Average Joes Will Rewrite Iceland Constitution

Hundreds of ordinary people, from truck drivers to teachers, are vying to be elected to one of up to 31 spots on Iceland's Constitutional Assembly, which will convene early next year to perform the first major rewrite to the charter since Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944, reports AP. In the aftermath of its 2008 financial meltdown and the massive unemployment that followed, many Icelanders in the nation of 320,000 seem hungry for changes that might restore confidence and better protect the public interest.

"A country that has suffered a complete economic and moral collapse needs to start with a clean slate," says one candidate who teaches economics at the University of Iceland. Anyone, except the president, lawmakers, and assembly organizers, can run. (More Iceland stories.)