Peter Kaiser (born 4 December 1958) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. Since March 2013 he is

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

and since March 2010 also chairman of the

SPÖ Carinthia The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

Education

From 1978 to 1987 Kaiser worked as a contractual employee of the Carinthian

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

, at the same time he studied

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and education at the

University of Klagenfurt The University of Klagenfurt (german: Universität Klagenfurt or ''Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt'', AAU) is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the state of Carinthia. It has it ...

. In 1988 he became '' Magister'' and five years later he was promoted to

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

Political career

Kaiser took his first politician position in 1981 as chairman of the ''Carinthian socialist youth'', later in 1986 he became member of the Carinthian ''

Gemeinderat A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

'' and held this office until 1989. Kaiser was member of the Carinthian ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

'' from 1989 to 1994, 1997, 2001 to July 2008, and from November 2005 on as

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...

of the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

. In July 2008 he became state consultant for health and sports. In 2010 Kaiser succeeded Reinhart Rohr (who left the government) as chairman of the

and thus became second deputy governor. Beate Prettner replaced Kaiser in his position as state councilor. On 3 March 2013 the SPÖ became the biggest party again for the first time since 1994, through Kaiser as their top-candidate after the

2013 Carinthian state election The 2013 Carinthian state election was held on 3 March 2013 to elect the members of the Landtag of Carinthia. The election saw a massive shift in Carinthian politics, which had been dominated by the Freedom Party in Carinthia (FPK) and Governor J� ...

s. Subsequently, he was elected governor by the Carinthian ''

'' with 30 of 36 votes, and thus succeeded former officeholder

Gerhard Dörfler Gerhard Dörfler (born 29 May 1955) is an Austrian politician, who served as Governor of Carinthia from 27 October 2008 (acting since 11 October), following Governor Jörg Haider's sudden death in a car accident, to 28 March 2013. Dörfler is a ...

of the Freedom Party. At his inaugural speech Kaiser spoke some words in

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

, the second regional language, he was the first Carinthian

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

to do so. On 2 April 2013 Kaiser was sworn in as governor of Carinthia by Federal President

Heinz Fischer Heinz Fischer Order of Prince Henry, GColIH Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, OMRI Royal Order of the Seraphim, RSerafO Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCollSE (; born 9 October 1938) is a former Austrian politician. He took off ...

. At the 2018 Carinthian state elections the

once again grew bigger by gaining + 10,8 Percent under Kaiser as their top-candidate. On 16 April 2018 he will officially be confirmed in his position by President

Alexander Van der Bellen Alexander Van der Bellen (; born 18 January 1944) is the current president of Austria. He previously served as a professor of economics at the University of Vienna, and after joining politics, as the spokesman of the Austrian Green Party. ...

Personal life

Kaiser was married with Larissa Krainer and is father of one son. Besides his political functions Kaiser has been involved for the Carinthian

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

union and the ''Jugendherbergswesen'' (

Hostelling International Hostelling International (HI), formerly known as International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF), is a grouping of more than seventy National Youth Hostel Associations in over eighty countries, with over 4,000 affiliated hostels around the worl ...

References

External links

Peter Kaiser
on Facebook *

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

''Kärnten: Cernic und Kaiser neue SP-Regierungsmitglieder''
from 9. Juli 2008 *

''Peter Kaiser: 51 Jahre ohne Kärntner Anzug. Porträt''
from 24 April 2010
Peter Kaiser
on the sites of the Carinthian government *
Peter Kaiser
on www.meineabgeordneten.at {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Peter 1958 births Living people Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians Politicians from Klagenfurt University of Klagenfurt alumni