Geir Hallgrímsson

Who was Geir Hallgrímsson?

Geir Hallgrímsson was the 16th Prime Minister of Iceland for the Independence Party from 28 August 1974 to 1 September 1978. Geir was mayor of Reykjavík from 1959 to 1972. During his term as mayor he greatly expanded the city and improved the inner structure. Under his guidance the geothermal heating system was expanded to the whole city, when previously it had only been available to a minority of the city. He also improved the streets by turning the mostly gravel roads into modern asphalt streets. He was popular as mayor and in an open primary for the municipal elections he won 99% of the votes in 1970.

In the fall of 1970 he came in number one in the primary for elections to Althing, ahead of prime minister Jóhann Hafstein and former mayor Gunnar Thoroddsen. He was a member of parliament from 1970 until 1983. In 1971 he was elected vice chairman of the Independence Party and in 1973 he became chairman after Jóhann Hafstein resigned for health reasons. In 1974 he led the Independence Party to one of its greatest victories. The party won 42.5% of the vote and 25 out of 60 parliamentary seats. He then led a coalition government with the Progressive party from 1974 to 1978.