Alexander Van der Bellen

Alexander Van der Bellen
Alexander Van der Bellen in 2024
President of Austria
Assumed office
26 January 2017
ChancellorChristian Kern
Sebastian Kurz
Brigitte Bierlein
Sebastian Kurz
Alexander Schallenberg
Karl Nehammer
Alexander Schallenberg (acting)
Christian Stocker
Preceded byHeinz Fischer
Leader of the Green Party
In office
December 1997 – 3 October 2008
Preceded byChristoph Chorherr
Succeeded byEva Glawischnig-Piesczek
Personal details
Born (1944-01-18) 18 January 1944 (age 82)
Vienna, Nazi Germany (now Austria)
Political partySocial Democratic Party
(Before 1992)
Green Party (1992–2016)
Independent (2016–present)
Spouse(s)Brigitte (Divorced)
Doris Schmidauer
(2015–present)
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Innsbruck
Signature

Alexander Van der Bellen (born 18 January 1944) is an Austrian politician and economist. He is the President of Austria since 2017. He won the 2016 election after multiple court battles and narrow victories. He was sworn into office on 26 January 2017 officially becoming the president. Van der Bellen is the country's second green president and the first to be directly elected by popular vote. He was re-elected in 2022.

Early life

Van der Bellen was born in Vienna. His father was Russian and his mother was Estonian. He is the son of aristocratic refugees from Russia's Bolshevik Revolution. They first escaped from Pskov to Estonia.

In 1962, he graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium in Innsbruck. He studied economics at the University of Innsbruck. He received a doctorate in 1970.

Political career

Van der Bellen is a retired professor of economics at the University of Vienna. He is a member of the Austrian Green Party. He served as a member of the National Council from 1994 to 2012. He was the chairman of the parliamentary club and federal spokesperson of his party from 1997 to 2008.

Presidency (since 2017)

He ran as a nominally independent candidate supported by the Green Party in the 2016 presidential election, and finished second in the first round before winning the second round against far-right candidate Norbert Hofer. A second election was ordered since the votes were too narrow. In December 2016, Van der Bellen won the election with more votes. He became the first Austrian president to be directly elected by popular vote. He took office on 26 January 2017.

He was re-elected in October 2022 with almost 57% of the vote.

Political views

Van der Bellen supports green and social liberal policies, and is supportive of the European Union.

References

  1. 1 2 "Austria presidential election result: Alexander Van der Bellen wins over far-right candidate Norbert Hofer". The Independent. 23 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 Connolly, Kate; Oltermann, Philip; Henley, Jon (23 May 2016). "Austria elects Green candidate as president in narrow defeat for far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Austria far right thwarted, Van der Bellen elected president". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Biographical data". Die Grünen. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  5. ↑ "Van der Bellen sichtlich bewegt". Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  6. ↑ "Die Grünen - "Wenn es die EU nicht gäbe, müsste man sie erfinden"". Die Grünen. Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2016-05-23.

Other websites

Media related to Alexander Van der Bellen at Wikimedia Commons