Iceland’s crisis-era central bank chief to run for president

Reykjavik (AFP) – Iceland’s longest serving prime minister, who who headed the central bank at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, said Sunday he will run for president this year.

David Oddsson, 68, will challenge current President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, 72, who is seeking re-election in the June 25 poll after 20 years in the post.

“We could have one more course on the presidential menu… so that people could have more to choose from than they have had recently,” Oddsson told Iceland’s Bylgjan radio.  

The presidency in Iceland is largely a ceremonial position but the head of state can call a referendum on a law passed by parliament if it is felt the whole nation should have a say.

The banking failure plunged Iceland into a deep recession, prompting a $2.1 billion (1.8 billion euro) bailout from the International Monetary Fund, and sending the krona into freefall.

The economy has since returned to growth.

Iceland’s independent 2010 “Truth Report” into the causes of the financial meltdown laid the blame on the former ministers for finance and banking, as well as on Oddsson.

Oddsson was one of the main architects of the economic deregulation in the 1990s that was found by the report to have contributed to the failure of three of Iceland’s largest banks.

“My experience and knowledge, which is considerable, could go well with this office,” Oddson said as he announced his candidacy.

A lawyer by training, Oddsson entered politics as a Reykjavik city councillor in 1974 and was elected mayor of the capital in 1982, serving until 1991.

He was prime minister from 1991 to 2004, foreign minister between 2004 and 2005 and then served as head of the central bank from 2005 to 2009.

He has been the editor of the influential Morgunbladid newspaper since 2009. 

A keen bridge player, he is said to be able to calculate the moves of his adversaries several steps ahead. He has previously said that one of his strongest traits as prime minister was his ability to divert negative attention away from himself or the party.