Icenews is reporting that Iceland’s constitutional council has come up with a draft constitution. Apparently, there will be some further discussion, but the draft is due to be presented to Alþingi by 29 July.

Among the council’s recommendations, the news report identifies the following: “The President of the Republic would not be permitted to sit more than three terms; the voices of 15 percent of the electorate would be able to put bills to Alþingi and also force parliamentary issues to a referendum. The number of government ministers would be capped at ten and ministers would be forced to give up their Alþingi seats”.

There is a Google translate version of the draft in English available here.

What strikes me is that Icelanders must be pretty happy with their constitution. To me, the result of a very wide-ranging and democratic consultation process is likely to be a set of changes that are fairly cosmetic. Iceland’s new constitution is likely to look very much like Iceland’s old constitution.