Esther Ouwehand (; born 10 June 1976) is a Dutch politician and former marketing manager serving as leader of the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political lead ...

( nl, 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 The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential ...

with two interruptions.

Biography

Personal life

Esther Ouwehand went to

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in Katwijk, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" ( nl, beleid, communicatie en organisatie) at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

, which she did not finish. She was raised a Protestant but is currently an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

. She is vegan. Dutch webzine

Lords of Metal Lords may refer to: * The plural of Lord Places * Lords Creek, a stream in New Hanover County, North Carolina *Lord's, English Cricket Ground and home of Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club People * Traci Lords (born ...

conducted an interview with Esther Ouwehand in which she told about her deep rooted passion for

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and heavy metal music, in particular stoner metal.

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. She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman

Marianne Thieme Marianne Louise Thieme (, born 6 March 1972) is a Dutch politician, author and animal rights activist. A jurist by education, she served as the Party for the Animals' political leader from 2002 to 2019 and a member of the House of Representatives ...

. 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 ''Lijstduwer'' (, 'list pusher') is a Dutch term for the last candidate on a party list. In Suriname, the Netherlands and Belgium, this position is often taken by well-known non-politicians such as artists, celebrities and sports people. They ar ...

Kees van Kooten, who received 4.479 votes. 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 Frank P. Wassenberg (born 2 May 1966) is a Dutch politician. He is a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for the Animals since 23 March 2017. He previously served in the House from 17 November 2015 to 18 October 2016 when he tem ...

. She returned to the House on 18 October 2016. On 8 October 2019, Ouwehand succeeded

as parliamentary leader of the PvdD upon Thieme's retirement from the House of Representatives. She was the leader of the party in the 2021 House of Representatives elections. On October 11, 2022, she temporarily resigned her duties as MP and group chairman due to overwork, 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.

Electoral history

Bibliography

* ''220x liever voor mens, dier, natuur en milieu: Verkiezingsprogramma Partij voor de Dieren, Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2006''. Esther Ouwehand c.s., Amsterdam, October 2006 Election 2006 manifesto

Notes

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links

*
Esther Ouwehand's weblog
*
House of Representatives biography
*
Perdefinitie.nl biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouwehand, Esther 1976 births Living people 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch women writers Dutch agnostics Dutch bloggers Dutch women activists Women in marketing Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Party for the Animals politicians People from Katwijk Dutch women bloggers 20th-century Dutch women