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Villy Søvndal
Danish politician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Villy Søvndal (born 4 April 1952) is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013.[1] He represented the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) in Parliament (Folketinget) from 1994 to 2013. He was selected as party leader in a 2005 vote, succeeding Holger K. Nielsen.
Villy Søvndal | |
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![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 3 October 2011 – 12 December 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
Preceded by | Lene Espersen |
Succeeded by | Holger K. Nielsen |
Member of the European Parliament for Denmark | |
Assumed office 16 July 2024 | |
Leader of the Socialist People's Party | |
In office 28 April 2005 – 13 October 2012 | |
Preceded by | Holger K. Nielsen |
Succeeded by | Annette Vilhelmsen |
Member of the Folketing | |
In office 1 August 1994 – 20 December 2013 | |
Personal details | |
Born | (1952-04-04) 4 April 1952 (age 72) Struer Municipality, Denmark |
Political party | Socialist People's Party |
Spouse(s) | Laila Rifbjerg (div.) Heidi Perto |
Children | 3 |
After he assumed this post, support for SF rose steadily in the polls, and in the 2007 parliamentary election the party received more than 13% of the votes, giving it 23 seats. After the election, support for SF continued to increase – up to 17–18% – but in the 2011 parliamentary election the party received only 9% of the vote and dropped down to 16 seats.[2][3]
In 2008, Søvndal published an autobiography, Villys verden (Villy's World).