Esther Ouwehand

Infobox_Politician
name = Esther Ouwehand

---

|250px
caption =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1976|6|10|mf=y
birth_place = Katwijk, South Holland
residence = Flagicon|Netherlands Valkenburg, South Holland
death_date =
death_place =
office = Parliamentarian
salary =
term_start = November 222006
term_end = present
predecessor = Nobody
successor = Incumbent
office2 =
salary2 =
term_start2 =
term_end2 =
predecessor2 =
successor2 =
party = Party for the Animals (PvdD)
religion = Agnostic
constituency =
majority =
spouse =
children =
website = [http://www.partijvoordedieren.nl/content/view/264 www.estherouwehand.nl]
footnotes =

Esther Ouwehand (born June 10, 1976) is a Dutch politician. She is one of the two Members of Parliament for the Party for the Animals ("PvdD").

Life

Personal life

Esther Ouwehand was born on June 10, 1976 in Katwijk, South Holland. She went to a secondary school in Katwijk, where she finished her VWO (Dutch pre-university education). She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" "(Dutch:beleid, communicatie and organisatie)" at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she did not finish. [cite web|url=http://english.fsw.vu.nl/Prospective_students/index.cfm/home_subsection.cfm/subsectionid/87639201-049A-9E2B-EFF570630C1B0CAE
publisher=Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|accessdate=2007-11-11|language=Dutch|title=Graduate programmes (Masters)] cite web|url=http://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerleden/alle_kamerleden/ouwehand_esther/index.jsp|title=Esther Ouwehand| publisher=Tweede Kamer|language=Dutch|accessdate=2007-11-11]

Ouwehand is married and currently resides in Valkenburg, South Hollandcite web|url=http://www.parlement.com/cgi-bin/as.cgi/0291000/c/start/file=/9291103/modules/g0zwnzja?n=03108
publisher=Parlement|accessdate=2007-11-11|language=Dutch|title= Esther Ouwehand]

She was raised a protestant but is currently an agnostic. Furthermore, she is a vegetarian. [cite web|url=http://perdefinitie.nl/?do=profile&mid=106
publisher=Stichting Per Definitie|accessdate=2007-11-12|language=Dutch|title=150 volksvertegenwoordigers: ESTHER OUWEHAND]

Career

Initially, she did not consider a career in politics. She left a promising career in marketing, being junior marketing manager for youth magazines at Sanoma. She has additional functions as a committee member for youth centre "De Schuit" and the foundation "Factor Welzijn" in Katwijk.cite web|url=http://www.parlement.com/cgi-bin/as.cgi/0291000/c/start/file=/9291103/modules/g0zwnzja?n=03108
publisher=Parlement|accessdate=2007-11-11|language=Dutch|title= Esther Ouwehand]

Party for the Animals

She joined the Party for the Animals "(Dutch:Partij voor de Dieren)" in October 2002 and became the party's co-ordinator in 2004. She was responsible for the management of the party's headquarters. She also co-authored the 2006 electoral program "220x liever..".

The general elections of 2006 were considered a great succes for the party. The party gained 179,988 votes (1,8%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights. [cite web|url=http://www.kiesraad.nl/tweede/virtuele_map/uitslag-van-de
language=Dutch|publisher=Kiesraad|accessdate=2007-11-12|date=2006-11-27|title=Uitslag van de Tweede Kamerverkiezing van 22 november 2006]

She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman Marianne Thieme. Consequently, she became a member of parliament, even though she received a total of 4.370 write-in votes, about a hundred less than lijstduwer Kees van Kooten, who received 4.479 votes. [cite web|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article373904.ece/Huub_Oosterhuis_en_Kees_van_Kooten_populair
language=Dutch|publisher=De Volkskrant|accessdate=2007-11-12|date=2006-11-27|title=Huub Oosterhuis en Kees van Kooten populair] She was sworn in on November 30, 2006.

Publications

* "220x liever voor mens, dier, natuur en milieu: Verkiezingsprogramma Partij voor de Dieren, Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2006". Esther Ouwehand c.s., Amsterdam, October 2006
* Ingrid Weel, "'De politiek is te gesloten'. Esther Ouwehand ", Trouw, February 12, 2007cite web|url=http://www.parlement.com/cgi-bin/as.cgi/0291000/c/start/file=/9291103/modules/g0zwnzja?n=03108
publisher=Parlement|accessdate=2007-11-11|language=Dutch|title= Esther Ouwehand]

References

External links

* [http://www.partijvoordedieren.nl/ Partij voor de Dieren website]
* [http://www.partijvoordedieren.nl/content/view/129 Party for the Animals website]
* [http://www.partijvoordedieren.nl/content/view/203 Onze Kamerleden:Esther Ouwehand biografie]
* [http://www.partijvoordedieren.nl/download/Verkiezingsprogrammadef20061001.pdf "220x liever" (2006 electoral program)]
* [http://perdefinitie.nl/?do=profile&mid=106 2007 Per Definitie interview]