Constitution of Iceland

The Constitution of the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic Stjórnarskrá lýðveldisins Íslands ) from 1944 gives the framework for the legal and political constitutional structure Islands.

History

Prehistory

The oldest Icelandic constitution dates from 1874. During this the Icelandic parliament, the Althing which, the legislative power was added, using the Danish king held a veto. The current Constitution of 17 June 1944 - introduced with the final independence of Iceland from Denmark - replaced the Constitution of the Kingdom of Iceland from from 1920.

Extensions

The Constitution has been extended several times. 1959, the proportional election was in all constituencies eingeführt.1968 there was a lowering of the voting age from 21 to 20 years. In 1984, the age was 18 years, while the number of seats in the Althing has been increased from 60 to 63. As part of the changes from 1991 unicameral was introduced in Iceland, which replaced the previous two-chamber system.

Drafting of a new constitution

In the course of a possible EU accession Islands recast the Icelandic constitution in crowdsourcing methods will be developed. The official draft was passed on 29 July 2011, the Althingi.

Content

The Constitution is very similar to the basic law of Denmark. It consists of some ( in both versions ) 80 articles and seven sections.

In the first article of the Constitution stipulates that Iceland is a parliamentary republic.