In 1994, when she lost a bid to head the Social Democratic Party, she raised her fist and declared "Minn tími mun koma!"

Jóhanna became prime minister on 1 February 2009, in a minority cabinet formed after the previous coalition was dissolved following the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis.

In September 2012, Jóhanna announced she would not seek re-election and retired from politics as then-Iceland's longest serving member of Parliament.

[6] She studied at the Commercial College of Iceland, a vocational high school operated by the Chamber of Commerce.

After graduating with her commercial diploma in 1960, she worked as a flight attendant with Icelandic Airlines (a predecessor of Icelandair) from 1962 to 1971, and as an office manager from 1971 to 1978.

[9] She enjoyed early success in her parliamentary career, serving as deputy speaker of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) in 1979 and in 1983–84.

[9] On 26 January 2009, Prime Minister Geir Haarde tendered the coalition government's resignation to the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.

[10][11] After talks with the leaders of the five parties represented in the Althing, the President asked the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement to form a new government and to prepare for elections in the spring.

[12] Jóhanna was proposed as prime minister for the new government; two reasons for this were her popularity among the general public and her good relations with the Left-Green Movement.

[18][19][20][21] The Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement, which formed the outgoing coalition government under Jóhanna, both made gains and together had an overall majority of seats in the Althing.

On 16 February 2011, the Althing agreed to a repayment deal to pay back the full amount starting in 2016, finalising before 2046, with a fixed interest rate of 3%.

[29] He stood trial before the Landsdómur, a special court to hear cases alleging misconduct in government office, used for the first time since it was established in the 1905 Constitution.

[31] Taking its cue from nationwide protests and lobbying efforts by civil organisations, the new governing parties decided that Iceland's citizens should be involved in creating a new constitution and started to debate a bill on 4 November 2009 about that purpose.

Also a proposed referendum on the discontinuing of accession talks with the European Union by some parliamentarians of the governing left coalition was rejected, with 34 votes against and 25 in favor.

[40] Asked what the most important gender issue today is, she answered "To fight the pay gap between men and women".