More safe than sound?

Parliamentary government was established in Iceland in 1904 but remains a constitutional convention which is nowhere explicitly mentioned in the constitution. The present constitution, which was adopted at the time of the dissolution of the union with Denmark in 1944, has some semi-presidential features. Thus, responsibility for government formation according to the constitution lies with the head of state (since 1944 the President). Although in fact largely a figurehead, the President of Iceland is popularly elected and has some potential power, as he showed in 2004 when he refused to countersign a legislative act which had been passed by parliament (with the effect that the act was withdrawn to avoid the constitutionally prescribed referendum). ¹ The president is responsible for designating the government formateur during talks on government formation and the president's judgement could under conditions of uncertainty affect the outcome. Parliament itself has no say in selecting the formateur, nor does a new government have to go through a vote of investiture when taking over. Of course, the president is expected, in accordance with parliamentary practice, to choose the formateur most likely to succeed in forming a majority coalition, but in cases where such a government is not forthcoming the decisions of the president could be decisive. No single-party majorities have emerged since the interwar period. The threat of presidential activism in government formation (e.g. through the formation of an extra-parliamentary cabinet composed of government officials has been present in Iceland since 1942–44 when the Governor of Iceland formed such a government. The threat of presidential activism (the Governor became President in 1944) has been among the factors contributing to the successful formation of majority governments in Icelandic politics (Jóhannesson 2006). Unlike in Scandinavia, minority governments are in practice not tolerated, except in a provisional capacity. Government coalitions usually contain two or three parties, but two-way coalitions are more stable and tend to be preferred.