The president serves as a largely ceremonial chief of state, is directly elected to a four-year term, and is not subject to term limits. President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson was reelected in June 2020 with 92.2 percent of the vote.

The prime minister is the head of government. The leader of the ruling party or coalition usually becomes prime minister; the legitimacy of the prime minister rests primarily on the conduct of the parliamentary polls. The current prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir of the Left-Green Movement (LGM), first took office in 2017. The governing coalition—composed of the Independence Party (IP), the LGM, and the Progressive Party—kept its majority following parliamentary elections in September 2021, with Jakobsdóttir retaining her leadership position.

The 63-member unicameral Parliament is elected for four-year terms.

Parliamentary elections were held in September 2021, and saw the governing coalition keep its majority, with the IP winning 16 seats, the Progressive Party winning 13, and the LGM winning 8. After several weeks of negotiations, the parties agreed to renew their coalition.

The elections were generally considered free and fair, but were marked by procedural irregularities. In the country’s northwest electoral district, extremely close results led to a recount the day after the election, resulting in five candidates—whose electoral victories had been announced earlier that day—losing their seats to other candidates from the same parties. The legality of the recount came into question after flaws in the district’s vote counting process were discovered, including the officials’ failure to seal the ballots following the initial count. Parliament confirmed the validity of the recount in November.

Municipal elections were held in May 2022 and saw a voter turnout of 63 percent nationwide.

The constitution, the election law of 2000, and related legislation establish a clear and detailed framework for conducting elections. Electoral laws are implemented impartially by a variety of national and regional authorities. However, the division of responsibilities between the relevant bodies is not always well defined.

Political parties form and operate freely, rising and falling according to political developments and the will of the public. Several new parties contested the 2021 parliamentary election, though no representatives from those parties were elected.

Opposition parties can gain power through free elections. However, the IP has only rarely lost its status as the largest party in Parliament and has been included in all but one governing coalition since 1991.

No military, foreign, or religious entities exert undemocratic influence over voters’ choices. However, some politicians and parties are closely linked with businesses, which in turn exert significant political influence.

All adult Icelandic citizens may vote in local and national elections. Electoral law amendments enacted in January 2022 allow foreigners to vote in municipal elections if they have been residents for at least three years and removed the waiting period for citizens of other Nordic countries residing in Iceland.

The interests of women and LGBT+ people are well represented in politics. Following the 2021 parliamentary election, women make up nearly 48 percent of Parliament.

The freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government.

While Iceland maintains robust anticorruption laws, public officials and major companies have engaged in corrupt behavior. Some officials implicated in corrupt or unsavory behavior have continued to serve in government.

In 2018, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) published a report urging the government to strengthen regulations on accepting third-party gifts and criticizing the inadequate enforcement of conflict-of-interest rules. New conflict-of-interest legislation for ministers, their advisers, and permanent secretaries entered into force in January 2021, as did a new law protecting whistleblowers. However, according to a GRECO report published in December 2022, the government had not sufficiently addressed the recommendations made in the 2018 report.

In October 2023, the parliamentary ombudsman found that the minister of finance, Bjarni Benediktsson, had not been eligible to verify the sale of Iceland’s share in the bank Íslandsbanki because his father was one of the buyers. The minister resigned from his position over the conflict-of-interest finding, but took up the post of minister of foreign affairs a few days later.

Iceland made changes to its Information Act in 2013 to strengthen existing legislation on transparency and freedom of information. However, the act has been criticized by press freedom advocates as having weak provisions. In the past, public officials have sought to conceal information that may be embarrassing or implicate them in wrongdoing.

The constitution guarantees freedom of speech and of the press. The autonomous Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV) competes with private radio and television stations. Private media ownership is highly concentrated, with the media company Sýn controlling most major private television and radio outlets.

Reports emerged in May 2021 claiming that Samherji, a large Icelandic fishing company implicated in a 2019 corruption scandal, had tried to undermine and control public debate by spying on, intimidating, and attacking the credibility of journalists and civil society organizations that had reported on the corruption allegations. In February 2022, police in Akureyri, where Samherji is headquartered, announced that four journalists who had reported on the Samherji scandal were “official suspects” in a breach-of-privacy investigation. Press freedom groups expressed concern that the investigation represented an attempt to suppress investigative journalism.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, which is generally upheld in practice. Around 60 percent of Icelanders belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Academic freedom is respected, and the education system is free of excessive political involvement.

People in Iceland may freely discuss personal views on sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution.

Freedom of assembly is generally upheld. In recent years, however, police have faced criticism for arresting or forcefully dispersing peaceful protesters under a broadly worded provision of the Police Law of 1996.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) may form, operate, and fundraise freely, and frequently inform policy discussions.

The labor movement is robust, with more than 80 percent of all eligible workers belonging to unions. Most unions have the right to strike, except for the National Police Federation. In February, Iceland’s second-largest union began a strike that caused significant disruptions, including hotel shutdowns and fuel shortages, before being resolved in March.

The judiciary is generally independent. Judges are proposed by an Interior Ministry selection committee, are formally appointed by the president, and are not subject to term limits.

The law does not provide for trial by jury, but many trials and appeals use panels of several judges.

Police are generally responsive to incidents of violence. War and insurgencies are not a concern. Violent crime is rare, though after a slight increase in both gun- and knife-related violence was recorded in 2022, the minister of justice announced in December of that year that, for protection from the “growing threat” of weapons-related crime, police would be authorized to carry stun guns. Debate over the controversial move continued into 2023.

In September 2022, police announced that four men had been arrested for allegedly planning to commit a domestic terrorist attack; two remained in custody until December 2022, when they were released after being indicted on terrorism-related charges. In October 2023, the Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s dismissal of the cases against the two individuals.

Prison conditions generally meet international standards. In July 2023, a report by the parliamentary ombudsman pointed out that conditions for female prisoners were worse than those for male prisoners, in large part because the facilities were designed around the needs of male prisoners. The report noted particular problems facing female prisoners from non-Icelandic backgrounds.

The constitution states that all people shall be treated equally before the law, regardless of sex, religion, ethnic origin, race, or other status.

The Directorate of Immigration has repeatedly been accused of using excessive force in carrying out deportations. In 2022, an Iraqi family seeking asylum in Iceland was deported to Greece; video footage of the deportation showed one member of the family, Hussein Hussein, who is disabled, being forcibly removed from his wheelchair. The family returned to Iceland the following month after a court ruled that their deportation had been illegal. The directorate stated again in October 2023 that the family should be deported to Greece. In November, the ECtHR stated that the deportation of Hussein Hussein should be delayed, but that the rest of his family could be deported. Hussein left the country with his family in December, saying he was unable to provide for himself without them.

In March 2023, despite opposition from human rights organizations, Parliament passed a controversial law stripping asylum seekers’ access to basic services 30 days after the rejection of their asylum applications. Immigrants who do not fluently speak Icelandic often face barriers to employment. Until 2019, noncitizens were prohibited from employment in the public sector.

In October 2023, women and nonbinary people refused to perform paid or unpaid labor for a day and demonstrated to highlight gender-based pay inequality, among other issues. About a quarter of Iceland’s population took part in the demonstration, which was modeled on Iceland’s celebrated 1975 women’s strike, in which 90 percent of the country’s women participated.

Freedom of movement is constitutionally protected and respected in practice.

There is generally no undue government interference in business or private property ownership.

Parliament unanimously passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage in 2010, and a 2006 law established full and equal rights for same-sex couples in matters of adoption and assisted pregnancy. Comprehensive legislation on transgender issues ensures full and equal rights for transgender people and guarantees relevant healthcare, among other provisions.

Abortions through the 22nd week of pregnancy are permitted without requiring special approval.

Citizens generally enjoy fair access to economic opportunity. However, the systematic exploitation of migrant workers has become a significant problem in recent years, especially in the tourism industry. Employers who exploit workers have largely acted with impunity due to an inadequate government response. Wage theft is not punishable by law. There are reports of forced labor, primarily involving migrants, in the construction and service industries, and of forced sex work in nightclubs.

Iceland criminalized human trafficking in 2009. An October 2023 report by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) praised Iceland for improvements to its legislative and policy infrastructures for combatting human trafficking, but urged an increase in the funding allocated to address the problem. The group also called on Iceland to improve its mechanisms for identifying trafficking victims.