Ronald Sørensen (born 4 May 1947) is a Dutch

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was a founder of the

Livable Rotterdam Livable Rotterdam ( nl, Leefbaar Rotterdam) is a local political party in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which was founded by Ronald Sørensen in 2001. Livable Rotterdam won the council elections of March 2002 due to the chari ...

party and also served in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

for the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

between 2011 and 2015.

Early life

Sørensen is of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

descent. He obtained an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in history from

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollm ...

. Before he became politically active he was a history and biology teacher.

Political career

He co-founded the

party and was an early associate of the politician

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

, who was assassinated in 2002. Sørensen asked Fortuyn to lead the Livable Rotterdam party into the 2002 municipal election during which the party saw success and ousted the governing Labour Party. From 2002 to 2011 he was a member of the

municipal council 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 coun ...

of Rotterdam on behalf of Livable Rotterdam, as well as fraction leader from 2002 to 2010, and from 2007 to 2011 he was a member of the

States-Provincial The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and ha ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

on behalf of Livable Zuid-Holland. Sørensen was a candidate for the

(PVV) in the

2011 Dutch Senate election The elections of the Dutch Senate of 2011 were held on 23 May 2011, following the provincial elections on 2 March 2011. The 566 members of the twelve States-Provincial elected the 75 Senate members. The new Senate was installed on 7 June 2011. T ...

. On 7 June 2011 he was installed as a member of the

and served in this role before retiring in 2015. He served until 9 June 2015. In 2017, he became a member of the

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections i ...

(FvD) party founded by

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch far-right politician, author and self-declared conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of Forum for Democracy (FvD), and has been a member of the House of Representati ...

. He later joined its offshoot

JA21 JA21 (, backronym for Juiste Antwoord 2021, or 'Right Answer 2021') is a political party in the Netherlands, currently active in the Senate as the Nanninga Group (). It was founded in December 2020 by Joost Eerdmans and Annabel Nanninga after ...

founded by fellow Livable politician

Joost Eerdmans Bernard Johannes "Joost" Eerdmans (born 9 January 1971) is a Dutch politician, broadcaster and former civil servant who has served as Leader of JA21 since 18 December 2020, a party he co-founded with Annabel Nanninga. Elected to the House of R ...

Bibliography

* ''Een gehate minderheid: NSB'ers in Rotterdam'', 2003, Rotterdam - Speakers Academy, * ''Nu ik het opschrijf, word ik weer boos'', 2011, Rotterdam,

References

External links

*
Senate biography
*
Parlement.com biography
1947 births Living people Dutch schoolteachers Dutch political party founders Dutch people of Norwegian descent Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of South Holland Municipal councillors of Rotterdam Livable Rotterdam politicians Party for Freedom politicians Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians Utrecht University alumni {{Netherlands-politician-stub