Søren Pape Poulsen (31 December 1971 – 2 March 2024) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...

for the Danish Conservative Party and its leader from 2014 until his death. He was previously Mayor of

Viborg Municipality Viborg Municipality () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,421.04 km2, and has a population of 97,621 (1. January 2025). Søren ...

from 2010 to 2014 and

Justice Minister of Denmark The Danish Minister for Justice () is the head of the Ministry of Justice and a cabinet member. As of 2024, the Minister of Justice is Peter Hummelgaard. Authority The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the enforcement of safety, securi ...

from 2016 to 2019.

Political career

Pape Poulsen was elected to the municipal council in Bjerringbro Municipality in 2001. Following the Danish Municipal Reform in 2007, Bjerringbro Municipality became part of the new

and he continued his work in the new municipal council. Following the local elections of 2009, he formed a majority with the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, the Socialist People's Party and the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party (DPP; , DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The party saw a period of significant growth after its founding a ...

and became

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

in Viborg. At the 2013 election, the Conservatives doubled their representation on the council and Pape Poulsen was reelected as mayor. On 6 August 2014, Lars Barfoed stepped down as leader of the Conservative People's Party and said that he would like Pape Poulsen to succeed him as leader. The following day, the parliamentary group unanimously elected him as political leader until the party congress on 26 September 2014. He was mayor until Wednesday, 3 September 2014 when Torsten Nielsen from the Conservative People's Party became mayor. On 18 June 2015, Pape Poulsen became a member of the

for West Jutland. On 28 November 2016, Pape Poulsen became

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen's third cabinet. He was minister until 25 June 2019. On 15 August 2022, Pape Poulsen, with the Conservatives at some of their highest polling in years, declared he was going into the 2022 election as a candidate for the prime minister position. Polling two months before the election suggested that Pape Poulsen was the clear favorite between him and fellow right wing candidate

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (born 25 September 1973) is a Danish former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen from 2022 to 2023. He led the Venstre party from 2019 to 2 ...

, but as the election neared Pape Poulsen became increasingly less popular, and ended up losing two seats in the election held on 1 November 2022.

Personal life

Pape Poulsen was educated in shipping at

Grundfos Grundfos () is the largest pump manufacturer in the world, based in Denmark, with more than 19,000 employees globally. The annual production of more than 16 million pump units, circulator pumps (UP), submersible pumps (SP), and centrifugal pump ...

. On 10 August 2014, Pape Poulsen came out as gay, simultaneously announcing his relationship with Josué Medina Vásquez, originally from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. They were engaged in 2017, later marrying in 2021. On 14 September 2022, he announced that they were divorcing, following suggestions that Medina had given him false information about his background. Following this scandal his party's popularity fell several-fold just before the election, almost totally in favor of the

Moderates Moderate is an ideological category which entails Centrism, centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical politics, radical or extremism, extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religi ...

Death

Pape Poulsen died from a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on 2 March 2024, at the age of 52. He had collapsed the day before during a meeting of the party's

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

Vejen Vejen with a population of 10,416 (1 January 2025) is the main town in Vejen Municipality, Denmark. Geography The town is situated in the Danish region of Region of Southern Denmark, Syddanmark between the cities of Kolding and Esbjerg. It is a ...

, and died after being taken to Odense University Hospital. Conservative People's Party general secretary Søren Vandsø, who has been described as Pape Poulsen's "faithful

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...

" (), took part in the meeting and later was by Pape Poulsen's side when he died. In a statement on the party's website, announcing the death to the public, Vandsø paid tribute to Pape Poulsen: Condolences poured in from across the political spectrum, including

Kristian Thulesen Dahl Kristian Thulesen Dahl (born 30 July 1969) is a Danish director and former politician who served as Leader of the Danish People's Party (DPP) from 2012 to 2022. He was a Folketing, Member of the Folketing (MF) from September 1994 until July 2022, ...

, Pelle Dragsted,

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark, prime minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Social Democrats (Denmark)#Leaders of the Social Democrats, leader of the Social Democr ...

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Troels Lund Poulsen Troels Lund Poulsen (born 30 March 1976) is a Danish politician, who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and leader of . He also serves as Minister of Defence. He previously served as Minister for the Environment from 2007 to 2010, Minist ...

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became ...

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

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and

Ulrik Wilbek Ulrik Wilbek (born 13 April 1958) is a Danish politician and former professional handball coach who is the incumbent Mayor of Viborg Municipality, serving in office since 2018. He is the most successful Danish team handball coach ever, having wo ...

. Flowers and lights were placed on the stairs in front of Pape Poulsen's home in Viborg. A ceremony officiated by

Henrik Stubkjær Henrik Stubkjær (born 31 of December 1961) is a Danish Lutheran theologian, from November 2014 the 44th Bishop of Viborg in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Stubkjær is chair of ...

, the Bishop of Viborg, took place at

Viborg Cathedral Viborg Cathedral, Our Lady Cathedral () is the site of one of Denmark's most important historic churches located in the town of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg in northern Jutland. The modern building is a 19th-century construction based on Lund Cathedra ...

on 9 March 2024. His ashes will be interred at

Bjerringbro Bjerringbro is a railway town located at the Langå-Struer Line, railway line between Viborg, Denmark, Viborg and Randers and lying on both sides of the Gudenå (''River Guden''). Until 1 January 2007 it was the municipal seat of the former Bjerr ...

Church. Question time on 12 March was cancelled at the request of the Conservatives, and replaced with a memorial service in the

. ,

Høje-Taastrup Municipality Høje-Taastrup Municipality () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in the Capital Region on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a total population of 59,059 (1. January 2025 ...

and deputy chairman of the Conservative People's Party, became temporary chairman until a successor can be elected. On 13 March, Mona Juul, MF since the 2019 election, was unanimously elected as political leader () of the party by the

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

. The party's executive committee also unanimously endorsed Juul for the post of party chairman (), subject to a vote of the party membership at an extraordinary

party conference The terms party conference ( UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party memb ...

later in the year. Pape had held both posts from 2014 until his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pape Poulsen, Soeren 1971 births 2024 deaths People from Viborg Municipality Conservative People's Party (Denmark) politicians LGBTQ conservatism Danish LGBTQ politicians Danish gay men Gay politicians Ministers of justice of Denmark Government ministers of Denmark LGBTQ legislators LGBTQ mayors Mayors of places in Denmark Danish municipal councillors Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Leaders of the Conservative People's Party (Denmark) Members of the Folketing 2022–2026 Deaths from intracranial haemorrhage 21st-century mayors 21st-century legislators 21st-century Danish LGBTQ people