After finishing the landspróf (national examination), Ástþór studied at the Commercial College of Iceland before moving to the United Kingdom in order to study commercial photography and marketing at the Medway College of Art and Design.
On 1 June 2012, his candidacy was revoked because he had failed to obtain the mandatory certificate from the senior electoral officer in the Northwest constituency; as he was the only challenger in 2000, this meant that the sitting President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was re-elected unopposed.
[4] Ástþór has at various points been critical of the foreign policy of the United States, particularly during the Iraq War, which he vehemently opposed.
[5] In later years, Ástþór has frequently taken a pro-Russia stance in various disputes between Russia and the Western world.
Notably, he expressed support for Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for arranging it.