Aki-Matilda Tilia Ditte Høegh-Dam (born 17 October 1996 in

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

for the

Siumut Siumut (, ) is a political party in Greenland in the social democratic tradition. Since the establishment of home rule in 1979, it has been the dominant party in Greenland. Siumut is led by Erik Jensen, who beat the then-incumbent Prime Ministe ...

political party. She was elected into parliament at the

2019 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place ten days after the European Parliament ...

, entering parliament at 22 years old, becoming its youngest member.

Political career

In the Danish general election on 5 June 2019, Høegh-Dam was one of two Greenlanders who succeeded in become members of the Folketing. Expressing strong support for

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015. The second woman to hold either office, she is also the youngest prime ...

, head of the Social Democrats, she campaigned on the basis that Denmark should take more care of its responsibilities for Greenlanders. She also supports independence for Greenland.

Personal life

Born on 17 October 1996 in

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Sisimiut Sisimiut (), formerly known as Holsteinsborg, is the capital and largest city of the Qeqqata municipality, the second-largest city in Greenland, and the largest Arctic city in North America.The term 'city' is loosely used to describe any popula ...

on Greenland's west coast. When she was 15, as a volunteer in Nakuusa (UNICEF's project in support of Greenlandic children), she went on a trip around Greenland's coast during which she discussed politics with a friend. As a result, she decided to join Siumut, a

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

political party. After joining the party's youth organization, her interest in politics continued to grow. After graduating from high school, in 2014 she began studying political science at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

and graduated in 2019. In 2015, she participated in the

Miss Denmark Miss Denmark () is a national Beauty pageant in Denmark. The pageant was founded in 1926, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe and other titleholders to Miss World, Miss International and Miss Supranational. Organization The Miss Dan ...

competition. Although she finished in sixth place, the event did much to draw attention to her in Greenland.

External links

Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoegh-Dam, Aki-Matilda 1996 births Living people People from Hillerød Municipality Siumut politicians Greenlandic women in politics Women members of the Folketing 21st-century Greenlandic politicians 21st-century Danish women politicians Greenlandic members of the Folketing Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Members of the Folketing 2022–2026