The ''Umboðsmaður Alþingis'' ( Icelandic for, literally, "Ombudsman f theParliament") is an ombudsman appointed by the '' Alþingi'' (the Parliament of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

) to oversee investigation of complaints against

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

and

government department Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration." Энцикло� ...

s in Iceland. The post of Umboðsmaður Alþingis was established from January 1, 1988 by the decree of law 13/1987. In 1997, by the decree of law 85/1997, its remit was extended to local government. From the start, Gaukur Jörundsson was elected by the Althing as the umboðsmaður. He was reelected twice, the last time with a mandate to December 31, 1999; but resigned from November 1, 1998. Tryggvi Gunnarsson took his place, first temporarily selected for the rest of Jörundsson's mandate, and then formally elected for the next period, and then reelected five times for full periods. However, he retired at his own request in the middle of the last one, which was effective from 1 May 2021. He also has had to take leave from his office for three shorter periods, when he was engaged in other matters, as in the special investigation commission for the causes of the

2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis The Icelandic financial crisis was a major economic and political event in Iceland that involved the default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2008, following their difficulties in refinancing their ...

. Thus, Róbert Ragnar Spanó served as Umboðsmaður Alþingis ''ad hoc'' 2009-2013. In April 2021 the Althing elected Skúli Magnússon as new Ombudsman for a full period, starting 1 May 2021.

References

External links

Official website
{{Iceland topics, state=autocollapse Ombudsman Ombudsman posts 1987 establishments in Iceland Independent government agencies of Iceland