Heide Simonis

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Heide Simonis (IPA: [ˈhaɪdə ziˈmoːnɪs]; born July 4, 1943 in Bonn as Heide Steinhardt) is a German politician. She is a member of the SPD.

She was Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein from 1993 to 2005, the first and till today the only woman to hold this position in any German state in Germany's history.

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[edit] Life

Simonis earned her highschool degree (Abitur) in 1962 in Nürnberg. Thereafter, she studied economics and sociology at the Universities of Erlangen-Nürnberg and Kiel, that she finished with a degree in economics in 1967. She worked in different positions after 1967.

Simonis has been married to university professor Udo Simonis.

[edit] Political Career

Simonis joined the SPD in 1969. She was elected to the German Bundestag in 1976. In 1992, she became member of the legislature of Schleswig-Holstein. On May 19, 1993, she was elected Minister President of said state, after her predecessor Björn Engholm resigned from that position due to a scandal.

On March 17, 2005 Simonis failed to be reelected as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein in 4 consecutive ballots by the Landtag (parliament) of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1st ballot she received 34 votes and Peter Harry Carstensen (CDU) received 33 while 2 deputies cast empty votes. Neither Simonis nor Carstensen got the absolute majority (35 votes). In the 2nd and 3rd ballot the candidates received 34 votes each. Obviously one deputy of the alliance of SPD, Grüne (Greens) and SSW abstained. An unprecedented 4th ballot brought the same result. Simonis has since stepped down as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein.

From 2005 until February 2008 Simonis served as Chief of the German UNICEF. She resigned from this position due to a scandal related to donations to the organisation that arose during her term.[1]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Artikel in the online issue of "Der Stern" (in German):[1]
v • d • e
Ministers-President of Schleswig-Holstein
Theodor Steltzer · Hermann Lüdemann · Bruno Diekmann · Walter Bartram · Friedrich-Wilhelm Lübke · Kai-Uwe von Hassel · Helmut Lemke · Gerhard Stoltenberg · Uwe Barschel · Henning Schwarz · Björn Engholm · Heide Simonis · Peter Harry Carstensen
 Coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein
Persondata
NAME Simonis, Heide
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steinhardt, Heide
SHORT DESCRIPTION German politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 4, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Germany  This article about a German politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.