Sarmīte Ēlerte (born 8 April 1957) is a Latvian politician who is a member of the

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

party. She was

Minister of Culture of Latvia Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

from 3 November 2010 until 25 October 2011.

Early life

Ēlerte was born on 8 April 1957, in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the

University of Latvia University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...

in 1980. In 1983-1988 she studied film critics at the

All-Union State Institute of Cinematography The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. From 1978 to 1988 she worked as a journalist for the magazine "Literatūra un Māksla".

Political career

In 1988 she joined the

Popular Front of Latvia The Popular Front of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Tautas fronte) was a political organisation in Latvia in the late 1980s and early 1990s which led Latvia to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Estonia and the ...

where she organized the information department. After the victory of the Front in the 1990 election she was the director of the Information Centre of the

Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republikas Augstākā Padome) was the transitional parliament of Latvia from 1990 to 1993, after the restoration of independence. The Supreme Council was elected on 1990 as the Sup ...

. She served this function until 1991. In 1990 she was appointed chief of the newly created "

Diena ''Diena'' (''The Day'') is a Latvian language national daily newspaper in Latvia, published since 23 November 1990. It is one of Latvia's largest daily periodicals and used to be considered as a paper of record. Following the change of ownersh ...

" newspaper and two years later she became the newspaper's head editor. She held this position until 2008. She was a head of the Latvian branch of the

Soros Foundation Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

in 1997–2006. In 2007 Ēlerte became a founding member of the

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

, which included, among others

Mart Laar Mart Laar (born 22 April 1960) is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's Economy_of_Estonia#Restoration_o ...

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work. Ahtisa ...

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...

and

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

. She is a head of the Baltic to Black Sea Alliance. Until 2009 she is a chair of National Council for Culture. In 2007, along with

Sandra Kalniete Sandra Kalniete (born 22 December 1952) is a politics of Latvia, Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader. She served as Foreign Minister of Latvia 2002–2004 and as European Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Devel ...

she was the initiator of the so-called ''Umbrella revolution'' (''Lietussargu Revolucija'') directed against the oligarchy and the ruling class. In 2010 she was engaged in a process of consolidation of the Latvian center-right forces. In March 2010, she founded the Association for Progressive Change them.

Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics (, Durbe – 22 August 1925, near Tukums) was a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as the first Foreign Minister of Latvia from its independence until 1924 and again from December of the same year until his death ...

. In the elections of 2010 she established the electoral platform of " Unity" in

Semigallia Semigallia, also spelt Semigalia, ( lv, Zemgale; german: Semgallen; lt, Žiemgala; pl, Semigalia; liv, Zemgāl) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located in the south of the Daugava river and the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. ...

from which she was elected to the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the po ...

(Latvian Parliament). On November 3, 2010, she was appointed as the minister of culture in the second government of

Valdis Dombrovskis Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served ...

. She held this position until October 25, 2011. She lost in the 2011 election to the Saeima. She was advisor to Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis. On November 26, 2012, she was nominated a candidate for the office of mayor of

by the Unity party.''«Vienotības» Rīgas mēra kandidāte būs Ēlerte''
apollo.lv z 26.11.2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elerte, Sarmite 1957 births Living people Politicians from Riga Civic Union (Latvia) politicians New Unity politicians Ministers of Culture of Latvia Deputies of the 10th Saeima Women government ministers of Latvia Women deputies of the Saeima University of Latvia alumni 21st-century Latvian women politicians