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          After Iceland's PM Steps Down, President to Run for 6th Term

   by Reuters

   Iceland's longest-serving president said Monday he would run for a
   sixth term in June, reversing a decision to bow out in response to
   political upheaval caused by the prime minister's resignation over the
   Panama Papers scandal.

   Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who has been president since 1996, has exerted
   his right to demand popular votes on key issues, introducing political
   power to an office that had traditionally been seen as largely
   ceremonial.

   His about-face comes nearly two weeks after Prime Minister Sigmundur
   David Gunnlaugsson decided to step down after leaked documents from a
   Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company that held
   debt from failed Icelandic banks.

   "The events lately and how they have shed light on the state of society
   ... and the situation of the government has led to people saying that
   somewhere there has to be stability and experience in the coming
   years," Grimsson told a news conference.

   Grimsson demanded referendums on deals made by the government to pay
   Britain and the Netherlands for their bailouts of customers of private
   Icelandic banks.

   In both cases, voters rejected the deals.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iceland-president-run-sixth-term-grim
   sson-prime-minister-step-down-scandal/3291720.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iceland-president-run-sixth-term-grimsson-prime-minister-step-down-scandal/3291720.html