National
Althing
- Icelandic: Alþingi
Governs Iceland
Official website (althingi.is) Report a problem with this page
Source: government.is, checkedAlthing in plain words
- What it's for
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The Althing, founded in 930, is Iceland's unicameral parliament of 63 members. It passes laws, approves the budget and holds the government to account.
Next vote
- Must be held by November 2028 (no fixed date) General election · Member of the Althing
Who sits on it
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Speaker of the Althing
Chosen by the Althing from among its members
- Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir Speaker of the Althing S
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63 members of the Althing
Elected
See every Member of the Althing and their riding, or look up an address to find yours.
Sourced · checked : show the source for each fact
Sources for who sits on it
- Speaker of the Althing government.is · checked
- Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir as Speaker of the Althing althingi.is · checked
- Member of the Althing government.is · checked
What it can do
- Legislative power
The Althing and the President jointly exercise legislative power (Constitution of Iceland, Art. 2). A bill becomes law when the President confirms it (Art. 26); if the President refuses, the law is put to a referendum.
- Budget and taxation
No tax may be imposed or changed except by law, and no expenditure may be made unless authorised in the Budget or Supplementary Budget Act passed by the Althing (Art. 40-41).
- Scrutiny of the government
Ministers are accountable to the Althing, which may debate no-confidence and can impeach ministers before the Court of Impeachment (Art. 14 and Art. 51-52).
Sourced · checked : show the source for each fact
Sources for what it can do
- Legislative power government.is · checked
- Budget and taxation government.is · checked
- Scrutiny of the government government.is · checked
Sources
- government.is · checked Government of Iceland, Constitution of the Republic of Iceland (Act no. 33/1944 as amended), read 2026-10-12: structure, selection and competences of the President, ministers, Althing and courts. Offices without a dated source are drawn from the Constitution text. For: Althing, Speaker of the Althing, Member of the Althing
- government.is · checked Constitution of the Republic of Iceland, read 2026-10-12. For: What it's for
- althingi.is · checked Althingi, official Icelandic titles in the ministers list; Icelandic names of bodies from island.is and althingi.is, read 2026-10-12. For: Althing in Icelandic
- government.is · checked Constitution of the Republic of Iceland, read 2026-10-12: the cited articles. For: Legislative power, Budget and taxation, Scrutiny of the government
- althingi.is · checked Althingi, XML member list and per-member seat history (thingmenn, thingseta), queried for 12.10.2026, read 2026-10-12: 63 principal members with party group and constituency; 5 principals on leave with an active substitute are counted as holders and substitutes (varamenn) are not loaded. For: Eydís Ásbjörnsdóttir as Member of the Althing, Northeast, Ingibjörg Isaksen as Member of the Althing, Northeast, Ingvar Þóroddsson as Member of the Althing, Northeast, Jens Garðar Helgason as Member of the Althing, Northeast, Logi Einarsson as Member of the Althing, Northeast and 58 more
- althingi.is · checked Althingi, XML list of presiding officers (forsetar), session 158, read 2026-10-12: President of Iceland and Speaker of the Althing. President term dates from Statistics Iceland (statice.is), presidential election 1 June 2024: term 1 Aug 2024 to 31 Jul 2028. For: Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir as Speaker of the Althing
- althingi.is · checked Constitution of Iceland: Althing elected for four years (Art. 31); President elected for four years from 1 August of the election year (Art. 6, Statistics Iceland 2024 results). No later date announced as of 2026-10-12. For: General election, November 30, 2028