Esther Ouwehand Explained

Esther Ouwehand
Office1:Leader of the Party for the Animals
Term Start1:9 October 2019
Predecessor1:Marianne Thieme
Office2:Leader of the Party for the Animals
in the House of Representatives
Term Start2:9 October 2019
Predecessor2:Marianne Thieme
Office3:Member of the House of Representatives
Term Start3:2 February 2023
Term Start4:18 October 2016
Term End4:12 October 2022
Term Start5:30 November 2006
Term End5:17 November 2015
Birth Date:10 June 1976
Birth Place:Katwijk, Netherlands
Nationality:Dutch
Party:Party for the Animals (2002–present)
Education:Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (dropped out)
Website:Party for the Animals
Otherparty:GroenLinks (until 2001)

Esther Ouwehand (pronounced as /nl/; born 10 June 1976) is a Dutch politician and former marketing manager serving as leader of the Party for the Animals (Dutch; Flemish: Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD) and its parliamentary group in the House of Representatives since 2019. She has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2006 election with two interruptions.

Biography

Personal life

Esther Ouwehand went to secondary school in Katwijk, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" (Dutch; Flemish: beleid, communicatie en organisatie) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she did not finish.[1] [2]

She was raised a Protestant but is currently an agnostic. She is vegan.[3]

Dutch webzine Lords of Metal conducted an interview with Esther Ouwehand in which she told about her deep rooted passion for hard rock and heavy metal music, in particular stoner metal.[4]

Career

Initially, she did not consider a career in politics. She left a promising career in marketing, being junior marketing manager for youth magazines at Sanoma. She has additional functions as a committee member for youth centre "De Schuit" and the foundation "Factor Welzijn" in Katwijk.

Party for the Animals

She joined the Party for the Animals in October 2002 and became the party's co-ordinator in 2004. She was responsible for the management of the party's headquarters. She also co-authored the 2006 electoral program "220x liever..".

The general elections of 2006 were considered a great success for the party. The party gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights.[5]

She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman Marianne Thieme. Consequently, she became a member of parliament, even though she received a total of 4.370 write-in votes, about a hundred less than lijstduwer Kees van Kooten, who received 4.479 votes.[6] She was sworn in on 30 November 2006.

Contrary to her wishes she was not initially placed on the election list for the general elections of 2010, but the party members voted her on the second place, so she became re-elected.

Ouwehand temporarily resigned from the House on 17 November 2015 for health reasons and was replaced by Frank Wassenberg.[7] She returned to the House on 18 October 2016.[8] [9]

On 8 October 2019, Ouwehand succeeded Marianne Thieme as parliamentary leader of the PvdD upon Thieme's retirement from the House of Representatives.[10] She was the leader of the party in the 2021 House of Representatives elections.[11] On October 11, 2022, she temporarily resigned her duties as MP and group chairman due to overwork,[12] returning to the House of Representatives on 2 February 2023. Following her re-election in November 2023, she served as her party's spokesperson for agriculture next to her role as parliamentary leader.[13]

Electoral history

Year! scope="col" rowspan=2
BodyPartyVotesResult.
Party seatsIndividual
2006House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 2style=text-align:right 4,370style=text-align:right 2[14]
2009European ParliamentParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 14style=text-align:right 2,135style=text-align:right 0
2010House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 2style=text-align:right 12,713style=text-align:right 2[15]
2012House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 2style=text-align:right 11,573style=text-align:right 2[16]
2014Leiden Municipal CouncilParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 13style=text-align:right 129style=text-align:right 1
2014European ParliamentParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 12style=text-align:right 3,292style=text-align:right 1
2015Provincial Council of South HollandParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 19style=text-align:right style=text-align:right 2
2017House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 2style=text-align:right 18,936style=text-align:right 5[17]
2018Leiden Municipal CouncilParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 10style=text-align:right 357style=text-align:right 3
2019Provincial Council of South HollandParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 20style=text-align:right 3,013style=text-align:right 2
2019European ParliamentParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 20style=text-align:right 11,215style=text-align:right 1
2021House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 1style=text-align:right 282,525style=text-align:right 6[18]
2023House of RepresentativesParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 1style=text-align:right 160,460style=text-align:right 3[19]
2024European ParliamentParty for the Animalsstyle=text-align:right 41style=text-align:right 8,257style=text-align:right 1[20]

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Graduate programmes (Masters). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 2007-11-11. nl.
  2. Web site: Esther Ouwehand. Tweede Kamer. nl. 2007-11-11.
  3. Web site: 150 volksvertegenwoordigers: ESTHER OUWEHAND. Stichting Per Definitie. 2007-11-12. nl. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120209111132/http://perdefinitie.nl/?do=profile&mid=106. 2012-02-09.
  4. Web site: Beroemde Headbangers: Esther Ouwehand. Lords of Metal - Ramon. 2013-10-10. nl.
  5. Web site: Uitslag van de Tweede Kamerverkiezing van 22 november 2006 . nl . Kiesraad . 2007-11-12 . 2006-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071105182409/http://www.kiesraad.nl/tweede/virtuele_map/uitslag-van-de . 2007-11-05 . dead .
  6. News: Huub Oosterhuis en Kees van Kooten populair. nl. De Volkskrant. 2007-11-12. 2006-11-27.
  7. Web site: Frank Wassenberg tijdelijk Tweede Kamerlid voor de PvdD . nl . Parlement.com . 17 November 2015 . 8 December 2015.
  8. Web site: E. (Esther) Ouwehand . nl . Parlement.com . 8 November 2016.
  9. Web site: Ouwehand (PvdD) terug in Tweede Kamer . nl . de Telegraaf . 14 October 2016 . 8 November 2016.
  10. News: Animal party leader leaves parliament after 13 years. NL Times. 2020-08-28. 2019-09-30.
  11. Web site: Kiesraad - Verkiezingsuitslagen . 2024-02-09 . www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl.
  12. Web site: 2022-10-11 . Ouwehand (PvdD) wegens overbelasting tijdelijk uit Kamer . 2024-02-09 . nos.nl . nl.
  13. News: Esther Ouwehand . 24 June 2024 . nl . .
  14. Web site: Proces-verbaal zitting Kiesraad uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2006 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 22 December 2023 . PDF . 27 November 2006 . Records meeting Duch Electoral Council results 2006 general election . 117–129 .
  15. Web site: Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2010 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 22 December 2023 . PDF . 16 June 2010 . Results 2010 general election . 44–45 .
  16. Web site: Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2012 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 22 December 2023 . PDF . 17 September 2012 . Results 2012 general election . 96–97 .
  17. Web site: Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2017 (getekend exemplaar) . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 21 December 2023 . PDF . 21 March 2017 . Results House of Representatives 2017 (signed example) . 128–129 .
  18. Web site: Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 21 December 2023 . PDF . 29 March 2021 . Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021 . 135–136 .
  19. Web site: Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 21 December 2023 . PDF . 4 December 2023 . Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023 . 105–106 .
  20. Web site: Proces-verbaal centraal stembureau uitslag verkiezing Europees Parlement Model P22-1 . Dutch Electoral Council . nl . 28 July 2024 . PDF . 19 June 2024 . Central electoral council report of the results of the election of the European Parliament Model P22-1 . 21–22, 41 .
  21. Election 2006 manifesto