Can a glacier in Iceland run for the president's post?

Iceland is one of the many countries with presidential elections this year.

However, what comes as a surprise is an extraordinarily cool candidate running for the presidential race.

A 700,000-year-old glacier called Snæfellsjökull is reportedly trying to secure a spot on the ballot in the country’s upcoming election on 1 June.

Here’s all we know about it.

The glacier in the fray for the top job

The campaign to include the Snaefellsjökull glacier, which is visible to half of Iceland’s population and sits atop a volcano, in the presidential election in Iceland was brought on by Dr Angela Rawlings.

Launched officially in mid-March, it focuses on ecology to “move towards environmental consciousness and global unity.”

On paper, Snæfellsjökull meets all the basic requirements for the contest.

It is clearly older than 35 and may legitimately be regarded as an Icelandic citizen. It doesn’t have any criminal history.

By formally adopting Snæfellsjökull as a middle name, Rawlings avoided the requirement for a kennitala or civil registration number, effectively enabling the campaign organiser to act as a stand-in for the glacier on the vote, according to the press release.

One more important requirement for candidates vying for president is that they must gather 1,500 signatures by 26 April to qualify for the nomination.

About 200 people have signed Snaefellsjökull’s candidacy so far, indicating that more effort needs to be made in the next few days to advance the candidature.

Why a glacier is being nominated for the bid

In a press release, the campaign said, “Amidst the conventional political landscape, we believe its’s time to challenge the status quo and elect a candidate that symbolises endurance, resilience, and global interconnectedness.”

“Snæfellsjökull is already an emblem of Iceland and a custodian of geo-cultural wisdom, representing the very essence of stability and sustainability. With a towering presence and serene demeanour, Snæfellsjökull embodies a balance of steadfastness and adaptability, qualities much needed in today’s rapidly changing world.”

Snaefellsjökull, a protagonist in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, is the only glacier in the nation to have an “international reputation,” according to The Guardian which quoted Rawlings.

The campaign also emphasises how crucial environmental stewardship is. By nominating a non-human candidate to the upcoming polls, the campaign seeks to raise awareness of environmental justice and sustainability issues.

“Half the population of Iceland is watching this glacier melt between 2024 and 2050,” Rawlings said, according to The Guardian. She pointed to a research that suggests Iceland’s glaciers are at risk of disappearing within the next 200 years.

“I’ve been personally referring to glaciers as the charismatic, geographic phenomenon of the climate emergency.”

The idea in practice

There have been all kinds of reactions to the unique nomination.

Rawlings, according to The Guardian, said, “We are coming at this with both joy and seriousness.”

While many are curious to know more about the candidate, others question how things would work.

According to the UK-based report, the campaign team explained when the president is invited to foreign engagements, a bottle of glacial meltwater could be sent. Foreign diplomats could be redirected to meetings with local specialists in fields such as glaciology.

When the president’s signing off on legislation is required, a presidential seal or a few drops of meltwater could be used.

However, the decision of whether Snaefellsjökull should use the president’s no-so-often-used veto power concerning legislation that would be against the glacier’s best interests might be made through a national participation process, Rawlings said, according to The Guardian.

Non-human candidates in presidential contests

Well, Iceland is not the first country to come up with a non-human electoral candidate.

In the past, there have been times when such candidatures entered the race as a means of casting a protest vote or satirising the political system.

According to The Week, in 2015, a cat was on the ballot for the mayoral elections in Mexico’s capital city, Veracruz. With a slogan, “Xalapa Without Rats,” two residents added domesticated rat predator Morris to the race with an aim at the rising corruption in the city.

In August 2014, a seven-year-old dog named Duke won an election to become the mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota, as per ABC News.

Following Argentina’s crippling economic collapse in 2011, many voters chose the write-in candidate Clemente — a popular cartoon figure with a featherless, bird-like appearance — in the midterm and presidential elections. Voters voiced their dissatisfaction at what they perceived to be a lack of candidates who could adequately handle the country’s economic crisis, and his lack of arms was claimed to indicate his incapacity to rob people, according to The Week.

The Guinness World Records website states that in the 1985 Idaho mayoral election in Boise, the Hasbro toy Mr. Potato Head garnered four votes.

The Pulvapies foot powder company ran an advertising campaign in 1967 to coincide with Ecuador’s municipal elections. “Vote for any candidate, but if you want hygiene, vote for Pulvapies,” was the campaign slogan. In the small coastal hamlet of Picoaza, the foot powder worked its magic, and the losing candidates vowed to take the manufacturer to court.

The Roman horse Incitatus is the first animal known to have been involved in politics. This is a contentious one since the historian Suetonius claimed in The Lives of the Twelve Caesars that the emperor intended to name Incitatus as consul but passed away before the appointment could be formalised.

With inputs from agencies