Leaders
All former chairmen of the party have held the office of the Prime Minister of Iceland: Ólafur Thors, Bjarni Benediktsson, Jóhann Hafstein, Geir Hallgrímsson, Þorsteinn Pálsson, Davíð Oddsson and Geir H. Haarde. Jón Þorláksson, the first chairman of the Independence party was Prime Minister for the Conservative party prior to the foundation of the Independence party. Gunnar Thoroddsen, who was the party's vice chairman 1974–1981, was Iceland's PM from 1980 to 1983, but the Independence Party did not officially support his government, although some MPs in the party did.
| Leader | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jón Þorláksson | 29 May 1929 | 2 October 1934 |
| 2nd | Ólafur Thors | 2 October 1934 | 22 October 1961 |
| 3rd | Bjarni Benediktsson | 22 October 1961 | 10 July 1970 |
| 4th | Jóhann Hafstein | 10 July 1970 | 12 October 1973 |
| 5th | Geir Hallgrímsson | 12 October 1973 | 6 November 1983 |
| 6th | Þorsteinn Pálsson | 6 November 1983 | 10 March 1991 |
| 7th | Davíð Oddsson | 10 March 1991 | 16 October 2005 |
| 8th | Geir Haarde | 16 October 2005 | 29 March 2009 |
| 9th | Bjarni Benediktsson | 29 March 2009 | Present |
Read more about this topic: Independence Party (Iceland)
Famous quotes containing the word leaders:
“In an ideal society, mothers and fathers would produce potty- trained, civilized, responsible new citizens while government and corporate leaders would provide a safe, healthy, economically just community.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation’s leaders wouldn’t know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher—a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It’s the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)