Tarek Al-Wazir
| Tarek Al-Wazir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Deputy Minister-President of Hesse | |
|
Assumed office 18 January 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Volker Bouffier |
| Preceded by | Jörg-Uwe Hahn |
| Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development | |
|
Assumed office 18 January 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Volker Bouffier |
| Preceded by | Florian Rentsch |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 3, 1971 Offenbach am Main, Hesse,  West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Alliance '90/The Greens |
Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir (Arabic: طارق الوزير; born January 3, 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been Deputy of the Hessian Minister-President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development. He is a member of the Landtag of Hesse and was co-chairman of the Hessian Green Party.
Personal life
Al-Wazir was born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, the son of an upper-class Yemeni father and a sudeten German mother. He holds dual citizenship with Yemen and Germany. His parents divorced while he was a child, and he spent several years of his youth in the Yemeni capital (Sana'a) with his father, an experience he later described as very influential in his personal development.[1]
After his Abitur in 1991, he studied political science in Frankfurt, where he earned a diplom. He is married to a Yemeni woman, with whom he has two sons.[2]
Political career
Al-Wazir joined the German Green Party in 1989, and has been a member ever since. From 1992 to 1994 he was chairman of the party's youth organisation (Green Youth) in Hesse. He has been a member of the Landtag since 1995 and is co-chairman of the Hessian Green Party (with Kordula Schulz-Asche).
He was the leader of the Greens during the Hesse state election of 2008, and as such was the Green candidate for the position of minister-president of Hesse. His party gained 7.5% of the votes. In the aftermath of the election, he pushed hard for a "red-green-red" coalition consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the far-left Die Linke party. This would have succeeded if not for an internal revolt by SPD members, forcing a new election in January 2009. In the 2009 elections, he again stood as the Green candidate for minister-president. This time his party, benefitting from popular anger at the SPD, increased its share to 13.7% of the vote, but the Greens remained out of government.
On 18 January 2014, after the 2013 elections, Al-Wazir became Deputy of the Hessia Minister-President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development in a Black-Green coalition.
External links
- ↑ Tarek, nicht Fritz, taz vom 27. Oktober 2008
- ↑ "Grünen-Chef Tarek Al-Wazir gilt als scharfzüngiger Redner", 12. January 2008
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarek Al-Wazir. |
- Homepage of Tarek Al-Wazir (German)