Vast Majority Of Icelanders Want Constitutional Reform

About 7 out of 10 Icelanders believe the current constitution needs to be reviewed and reformed, a new poll from RÚV shows.

48,900 Icelanders were presented with the statement, “A complete review of the constitution must be completed during the next parliamentary term”, and asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the sentiment.

72% said they agreed with the statement, with 41% saying they were in complete agreement. At the same time, 23% said they disagreed, with only 10% saying they were in complete disagreement.

While the poll is not entirely scientific, it does reflect a prevailing attitude in Icelandic society. The Pirate Party, for example, have made a new constitution a primary platform point, and that party is looking set to sweep up a lot of seats in parliament this Saturday.

A new constitution was one of the star ambitions of Iceland following the financial crash of 2008. Ultimately, a draft for a new constitution was crafted by a 25-person committee, although it failed to pass parliament. This draft was not “crowd-sourced”, as has often been contended, but the authors did solicit the general public for suggestions and commentary when writing the draft.