[1] President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, elected in 1996, stepped down after serving five consecutive terms.

[1][6][7] He later retracted and decided to run in April,[8] citing political unrest after the fallout of the Panama Papers leak, which implicated Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and forced him to resign after large anti-government protests.

Former Prime Minister Davíð Oddsson declared his candidacy on 8 May, and Ólafur Ragnar withdrew from the race the following day, stating that there was now a supply of qualified candidates.

[citation needed] Despite an initial anti-establishment feeling, interest in the campaign waned in the last days due to the performance of the Iceland national football team in the Euro 2016.

In the final debate the day before the vote, he said the result of the Brexit vote changes "much for the better for us Icelanders", implying that the European Economic Area agreement that non-EU members Norway and Iceland have with the EU could play a more important role with the United Kingdom on board.

His campaign promises included vowing to "modernise political life" and give voters a chance of direct democracy initiatives.

[3] Candidates had to formally declare their intention to run on or before 20 May[12] (five weeks prior to the election) and "be proposed by not less than 1500 voters".