Guðmundur Franklín Jónsson

Guðmundur Franklín Jónsson
Born
Guðmundur Franklín Jónsson

(1963-10-31) 31 October 1963 (age 60)
Reykjavík, Iceland
NationalityIcelandic
Years active2010-2021
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party

Guðmundur Franklín Jónsson (born 31 October 1963),[citation needed] is an Icelandic businessman and former politician who was known to be a presidential candidate in the 2020 Icelandic presidential election.

Biography

Guðmundur was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, to Jón Bjarnason and Guðbjörg Lilja Maríusdóttir.[1]

Commercially trained in Iceland and the US, Guðmundur worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street until the dot-com bubble burst around the turn of the millennium. From 2005 to 2008 he attended the Master's program in International Politics at Charles University in Prague. He founded a hotel in Prague, which he ran from 2002 to 2009. In 2012 he received a certificate as a tourist guide from the Icelandic tourist school Ferðamálaskóla Íslands.[1] Since 2013 he has been manager of a hotel in Gudhjem on Bornholm, Denmark.[2]

In 2010, Guðmundur founded the political party Right-Green People's Party,[3] ran under his banner for Parliament in 2013, and received 1.7% of the vote.[4] However, he was not eligible for election due to living abroad.[5] He left the party the same year.[citation needed]

In 2016, he first announced his candidacy for the presidential election, but then supported Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson when he announced that he would run for re-election. Ólafur also gave up his candidacy afterwards. Guðmundur applied for a place on the list as the Independence Party candidate for the 2016 Icelandic general election, but did not get it.[2]

As a member of the Orkan okkar ('Our Energy') group, he fought against the transposition of the EU's Third Energy Package into national Icelandic law, which Iceland is obliged to do as a member of the EEA. In 2019, he resigned from the party in protest at the Independence Party's stance on the issue.[2]

In the 2020 presidential election, Guðmundur was the only candidate against incumbent Guðni Th. Jóhannesson. He was re-elected with 92.2% of the votes. Guðmundur received 7.8%. He had announced that he wanted to use the powers of the presidency more than Guðni, in particular by exercising the right of veto in legislation. Guðmundur is considered a supporter of the then US President Donald Trump.[6]

Guðmundur announced on 14 October 2020 that he intended to run in the 2021 parliamentary elections under the banner of a new party, the Liberal Democratic Party.[7][8][9] The party took part in Iceland's 2021 general election, but failed to get into the Althing with 0.4% of the vote.[10] After a poor result in the elections, Guðmundur announced that he would be withdrewing from politics.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Jakob Bjarnar Grétarsson (26 May 2020). "Ævintýramaðurinn sem vill verða forseti Íslands". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Alexander Elliott (2020-06-18). "Presidential elections 2020 – The Candidates". ruv.is. Ríkisútvarpið. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  3. ^ "Hægri-grænir stofna flokk". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 30 June 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  4. ^ Jóhann Óli Eiðsson (27 February 2016). "Hægri grænir ganga til liðs við Íslensku þjóðfylkinguna". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Guðmundur Franklín ekki kjörgengur - hættir sem oddviti í Suðvesturkjördæmi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). 4 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  6. ^ Daniel Bellamy / AFP (2020-06-28). "Iceland's incumbent president reelected to second term". Euronews. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  7. ^ Hilmarsdóttir, Sunna Kristín (2020-10-14). "Frjálslyndi lýðræðisflokkurinn býður fram til Alþingis". visir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  8. ^ Sunna Kristín Hilmarsdóttir (2020-10-14). "Frjálslyndi lýðræðisflokkurinn býður fram til Alþingis". visir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  9. ^ Alma Mjöll Ólafsdóttir (2021-02-11). "Segir frambjóðendur nýstofnaðs stjórnmálaafls óttast fjölmiðla". Stundin (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  10. ^ "Úrslit Alþingiskosninga í september 2021". mbl.is (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. 2021-09-26. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  11. ^ "Guðmundur Franklín dregur sig í hlé". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 26 September 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2024.