Advertisement on the referendum on 9 April 2011

With reference to Article 5 of the Referendum Act, No. 91/2010 (cf. Article 26 of the Constitution, No. 33/1944), it is hereby determined that a referendum will beheld on 9 April 2011 regarding the validity of the Act No. 13/2011, authorising the Minister of Finance to approve the agreements which were signed in London on 8 December 2010 on guarantees for reimbursement by the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund of Iceland to the governments of the UK and the Netherlands of the cost of minimum insurance to the holders of deposits in the branches of Landsbanki Íslands hf. in the UK and the Netherlands and the payment of the instalments and interest on those obligations. The Act No. 13/2011 was passed by the Althingi on 16 February 2011, but the President of Iceland withheld his approval of it. Consequently, the Act must be put to a referendum open to all persons entitled to vote in Iceland, for their approval or rejection, by secret ballot.

The question put in the referendum will be as follows:

The Act No. 13/2011 provides for authorisation to the Minister of Finance to approve the agreements which were signed in London on 8 December 2010 on guarantees for reimbursement by the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund of Iceland to the governments of the UK and the Netherlands of the cost of minimum insurance to the holders of deposits in the branches of Landsbanki Íslands hf. in the UK and the Netherlands and the payment of the instalments and interest on those obligations.

The Act was passed by the Althingi on 16 February 2011, but the President of Iceland withheld his approval of it.

Should the Act No. 13/2011 remain in force?

The reply options will be:

• Yes, it should remain in force.

• No, it should become void.

The referendum will be held in the same polling stations as are used in general elections. The individual local authorities will publish further details about polling stations in the usual way shortly before the referendum, i.e. their opening times, locations, divisions into wards, etc. Voters are asked to acquaint themselves thoroughly with this information.  All those entitled to vote in general elections under Article 2 of the Act No. 91/2010 (cf. the first paragraph of the Act No. 24/2000) shall have the right to vote in the referendum.

Voters' rolls will be prepared on the basis of electoral registers provided by the National Registry to the local authorities. Voters' rolls shall be based on addresses registered in each local government area as of 19 March 2011. Voters' rolls shall be available for inspection in local government offices not later than 30 March 2011, in the manner customary in each given location.  

Pre-election voting shall begin on 16 March 2011.

The bill which was passed as the Act No. 13/201, together with all the documents relating to its treatment in the Althingi, is to be found on the Althingi's website, althingi.is.

Information on the conduct of the referendum can be found on the Ministry of the Interior's election website, www.kosning.is.