Election type

Government of Iceland, Elections Act No. 112 (last amended 25 June 2021) (Kosningalög 2021 nr. 112 25. júní), accessed 22 October 2024

"Chapter II. Eligibility to vote and stand for election. 

Article 3. Eligibility to vote in elections to the Althingi, presidential elections and referendums. All Icelandic citizens who have reached the age of 18 at the time of polling and are domiciled in Iceland are entitled to vote in elections to the Althingi, presidential elections and referendums. Icelandic citizens who have reached the age of 18 and have been domiciled in Iceland are entitled to vote for sixteen years after transferring their domicile from Iceland. After that period, they must apply to Registers Iceland to be added to the electoral register. The application must state the applicant’s name, personal identification number (kennitala), at what time he or she moved from Iceland, the last domicile address in Iceland and the address abroad and must include a declaration by the applicant that he or she remains an Icelandic citizen. Registers Iceland issues directions for the receipt of and procedure for applications. These directions may prescribe an electronic application process. A decision to add a person’s name to the electoral register shall be valid for four years as of the 1 December immediately following the submission of the application. Denials by Registers Iceland may be appealed to the Election Appeal Committee. 

Article 4. Eligibility to vote in municipal elections. The following are entitled to vote in municipal elections: a. any Icelandic citizen who has reached the age of 18 at the time of polling and is domiciled in the municipality, b. any Danish, Finnish, Norwegian or Swedish citizen, provided that the person meets the criteria of point (a) in other respects, c. any foreign national other than specified in point (b) who has been registered as domiciled in Iceland for an uninterrupted three-year period prior to polling day, provided that the person meets the criteria of point (a) in other respects. A student who has transferred his or her domicile, cf. paragraph 4 of Article 9 of the Act on Legal Domicile and Residence No. 80/2018, from Iceland to Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Norway or Sweden under the Agreement between the Nordic Countries on Registration of the General Public is not deemed to be have lost eligibility to vote in the municipality in which he or she was registered as domiciled upon departure, provided that the person meets in other respects the criteria of point (a) of paragraph 1 and submits an application under paragraph 3 to exercise the right to vote. The same applies to a spouse, cohabiting partner and their children residing with them in the country in question. To be eligible to vote under paragraph 2, the application shall be sent to Registers Iceland [no later than 40]1) days prior to election day each time that a municipal election is held. Registers Iceland shall issue directions for the receipt of and procedure for applications to exercise the right to vote under paragraph 2. These directions may prescribe an electronic application process. Denials by Registers Iceland may be appealed to the Election Appeal."

Iceland, Act on Candidacy and Election of the President of Iceland, 1945 No. 36 (last amended by Act No. 30/2020 (took effect on 17 April 2020), accessed 22 October 2024

Article 6. [Voters who cast pre-election votes shall write on their ballot papers the full names of the candidates for whom they wish to vote. Ballots shall nevertheless not be ruled invalid if a given name is omitted and only a family name is written, as long as it is still clear which candidate is meant.
Voters who vote at polling stations shall mark a cross, in pencil, in front of the name of the candidate for whom they wish to vote.
Other aspects of the actual poll and preparations for it, pre-election voting and voting at polling stations shall be subject to the Parliamentary Elections Act, as appropriate.]

Iceland, Local Government Elections Act, No. 5/1998, with subsequent amendments, accessed 22 October 2024

Article 43. A voter may cast his/her vote by absentee voting once there are eight weeks remaining until election day.

In the event that the election day has been decided with shorter notice than eight weeks, a voter shall then have the right to cast his/her vote on the working day following the decision on the election date.

Where elections are unrestricted a voter casting a ballot in absentee voting shall write on the ballot the full names and addresses of the regular councilors and alternates he/she elects.

The alternates shall be listed in the order in which the voter wishes them to come in as replacements. 

In other respects the Act on Elections to the Althingi shall apply mutatis mutandis to absentee voting.

Iceland, Act No. 4/2010 Concerning the Implementation of a Referendum, accessed 22 October 2024

Note: Act No.4/2010 refers to the Parliamentary Elections to the Althing, Act No. 24/2000 on the implementation of referendums.