Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson (pronounced �sɪːɣʏrðʏr ˈiŋgɪ ˈjouːhansɔn born 20 April 1962) is an Icelandic politician, who was the

prime minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland () is head of government of the Republic of Iceland. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president of Iceland, president and exercises executive authority along with the Cabinet of Iceland, cabinet subje ...

from April 2016 to January 2017. He has been the chairman of the Progressive Party since 2016 and

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

and Economic Affairs from April to December 2024, having previously served as Minister of Infrastructure. Sigurður Ingi was appointed as the prime minister on 7 April 2016, following the resignation of

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson (; born 12 March 1975) is an Icelandic politician who was the prime minister of Iceland from May 2013 until April 2016. He was also chairman of the Progressive Party from 2009 to October 2016. He was elected to t ...

in the wake of revelations contained in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

. He was elected as chairman of the Progressive Party on 2 October that year, narrowly ahead of the incumbent chairman Sigmundur Davíð. On 30 October 2016, due to the results of the

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

held the previous day on 29 October 2016, Sigurður announced his pending resignation as Prime Minister. He officially left office on 11 January 2017 and was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson.

Biography

Sigurður grew up on a farm in Southern Iceland, trained as a veterinarian at the

Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (, abbr. KVL, , abbr. RVA) was a veterinary and agricultural science university in Denmark. It was founded in 1856 and operated until 2007, when it became a part of the University of Copenhagen. It ...

in Copenhagen and opened a veterinarian practice specializing in farm animals after returning home to Iceland. He was since elected as chairman of the Veterinarian Association of Iceland and also ran the family farm for a number of years. Sigurður served as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture 2013–2016. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, a role which he held jointly with Fisheries and Agriculture until Sigrún Magnúsdóttir was appointed Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources at the end of 2014. As a result of the ousting of prime minister

following the

scandal, the Progressive Party announced Sigurður Ingi as the interim prime minister pending the early election in the autumn of 2016. He was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson. He was Minister of Transport and Local Government, later renamed to Ministry of Infrastructure from 30 November 2017 to 9 April 2024. He became Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs on 9 April 2024, after Bjarni Benediktsson became

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

again. Following the withdrawal of the

Left-Green Movement The Left-Green Movement (, ), also known by its short-form name Vinstri græn (VG), is an eco-socialist political party in Iceland. Since the 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election, the party has had no members in the Althing. The party chairper ...

from government in October the same year and the government's collapse, he was additionally reappointed as minister of infrastructure. In April 2022, he faced a mild controversy when he was accused for racism towards

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

, with him apologising and refusing the allegations.

References

External links

Biography of Sigurður on Althing
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