Knut Henning Thygesen

Infobox Officeholder

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name =Knut Henning Thygesen
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office =Mayor of Risør
term_start =2007
term_end =2011
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predecessor =Lars Lauvhjell
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constituency =
majority =44.5%
birth_date =April 7, 1953
birth_place =Risør, Norway
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nationality =Norwegian
party =Red
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residence =Risør, Norway
alma_mater =Norwegian Institute of Technology
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profession =Architect
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Knut Henning Thygesen (born April 7, 1953 in Risør, Norway) is a Norwegian author and politician for the Red Party. He was elected as mayor of Risør on September 11, 2007 in a direct mayor election as part of the 2007 municipal election with 44.5% of the votes. He is the only mayor ever for Red or any of its precessors.

Biography

He started education as an architect from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim where he among other things was editor of the student newspaper Under Dusken. After two years he moved to Bærum and started training as a construction worker. After finishing his qualifications he moved back to Risør. He spent 1979 in the Royal Norwegian Army. He has worked as a construction worker, architect, teacher and as an author since.

Politics

Thygesens interest for politics stated at upper secondary school in the early 1970s, with the three topics Norwegian EEC membership, the protest aganst the Vietnam War and environmentalism. He was heavily engaged in the protests against the planned nuclear power plants that were suggested built in Risør.

Both in Trondheim, Bærum and in the army he studied marxism and environmentalism. He protested the Soviet Unions suppression of Eastern European countries. In 1978 he joined Red Youth (RU) and created one of the largest RU chapters in the country. He also for a shorter period was a member of the Workers' Communist Party.

Tygesen was to candidate for Red Electoral Alliance (what is now Red) for the first time in the 1983 election, but was not elected. But in the 1987 election he was elected and was elected for the sixth time in 2007 election. The last period he has also sat on the executive board. He was elected directly as mayor in the 2007 as the first mayor for Red or RV in history.