Vast Majority Of Icelanders Want Justice Minister To Resign

72.5% of Icelanders in all say they believe Minister of Justice Sigríður Á. Andersen should resign from her post, and the demographics are even more telling.

Stundin reports that, according to the results of a new poll conducted earlier this month by Maskína, 72.5% of respondents believe Sigríður ought to resign. 27.5% believe she should remain on.

In terms of demographics, more women (77%) than men (68%) believed she should resign, and young people were slightly more likely than older people to support her resignation. However, whether in terms of sex, age, income level, education level, or location in Iceland, the majority of respondents all believe the Minister ought to resign.

The most striking contrast, rather, was found in terms of party affiliation. Voters for every parliamentary party – with the exceptions of the Independence Party (from which Sigríður hails) and the Centre Party – support Sigríður’s resignation. 100% of Social Democrats; 99% of Pirates; 92% of Left-Greens; 89% of Reform Party voters; 72% of People’s Party voters; and 67% of Progressives believe she should resign. 44% of Centre Party voters and 23% of Independence Party voters felt the same.

Sigríður’s tenure as Minister of Justice, both during the previous and the current government, has been fraught with controversy. She played an instrumental role in the scandal involving “restored honour” for a convicted paedophile, and broke the law when she appointed a judge to the Court of Appeal against the advisement of committees designed to assess qualifications for potential judges.

Further, as Minister of Justice, she presides over the Directorate of Immigration, which has made numerous deportation decisions that go against both Icelandic law and international agreements, resulting in widespread and concerted public criticism.

The poll was conducted from February 15 through February 20. Of those contacted, 88.7% responded, with a total of 858 responses in all.