President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland has gone back on his New Year declaration that seemed to suggest that he would not be standing for a fifth term in office later this year.

On 27 February, IceNews reports that a 30,000-strong petition was delivered to the president, asking him to stand again. Given the population is only slightly over 300,000 this is a fairly impressive show of support.

Anyway, in response to the petition President Grímsson has announced that he will seek re-election. However, he also hinted that he might not serve a full term. He intimated that once stability returned to Iceland, then he would stand down. This would precipitate a new election.

If President Grímsson is re-elected, then he will have served for 20 years as president. There is a review of potential opposition candidates at Iceland Review.