Esther Ouwehand

Esther Ouwehand (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛstər ˈʌuəɦɑnt]; born 10 June 1976) is a Dutch politician and former marketing manager serving as leader of the Party for the Animals (Dutch: Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD) and its parliamentary group in the House of Representatives since 2019. She has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2006 election with two interruptions.

Esther Ouwehand
Ouwehand in 2010
Leader of the Party for the Animals
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2019
Preceded by	Marianne Thieme
Leader of the Party for the Animals in the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2019
Preceded by	Marianne Thieme
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 February 2023
In office 18 October 2016 – 12 October 2022
In office 30 November 2006 – 17 November 2015
Personal details
Born	(1976-06-10) 10 June 1976 (age 48) Katwijk, Netherlands
Political party	Party for the Animals (2002–present)
Other political affiliations	GroenLinks (until 2001)
Education	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (dropped out)
Occupation	Politician marketer
Website	Party for the Animals

Biography

Personal life

Esther Ouwehand went to secondary school in Katwijk, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). She studied "Policy, communication and organisation" (Dutch: beleid, communicatie en organisatie) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she did not finish.^[1][2]

She was raised a Protestant but is currently an agnostic. She is vegan.^[3]

Dutch webzine Lords of Metal conducted an interview with Esther Ouwehand in which she told about her deep rooted passion for hard rock and heavy metal music, in particular stoner metal.^[4]

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.

Party for the Animals

She joined the Party for the Animals 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 success 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.^[5]

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.^[6] She was sworn in on 30 November 2006.

Contrary to her wishes she was not initially placed on the election list for the general elections of 2010, but the party members voted her on the second place, so she became re-elected.

Ouwehand temporarily resigned from the House on 17 November 2015 for health reasons and was replaced by Frank Wassenberg.^[7] She returned to the House on 18 October 2016.^[8][9]

On 8 October 2019, Ouwehand succeeded Marianne Thieme as parliamentary leader of the PvdD upon Thieme's retirement from the House of Representatives.^[10] She was the leader of the party in the 2021 House of Representatives elections.^[11] On 11 October 2022, she temporarily resigned her duties as MP and group chairman due to overwork,^[12] returning to the House of Representatives on 2 February 2023. Following her re-election in November 2023, she served as her party's spokesperson for agriculture next to her role as parliamentary leader.^[13]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Esther Ouwehand

Year	Body	Party		Pos.	Votes	Result		Ref.
						Party seats	Individual
2006	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	2	4,370	2	Won	[14]
2009	European Parliament		Party for the Animals	14	2,135	0	Lost
2010	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	2	12,713	2	Won	[15]
2012	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	2	11,573	2	Won	[16]
2014	Leiden Municipal Council		Party for the Animals	13	129	1	Lost
2014	European Parliament		Party for the Animals	12	3,292	1	Lost
2015	Provincial Council of South Holland		Party for the Animals	19		2	Lost
2017	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	2	18,936	5	Won	[17]
2018	Leiden Municipal Council		Party for the Animals	10	357	3	Lost
2019	Provincial Council of South Holland		Party for the Animals	20	3,013	2	Lost
2019	European Parliament		Party for the Animals	20	11,215	1	Lost
2021	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	1	282,525	6	Won	[18]
2023	House of Representatives		Party for the Animals	1	160,460	3	Won	[19]
2024	European Parliament		Party for the Animals	41[a]	8,257	1	Lost	[20]

Bibliography

• 220x liever voor mens, dier, natuur en milieu: Verkiezingsprogramma Partij voor de Dieren, Tweede Kamerverkiezingen 2006. Esther Ouwehand c.s., Amsterdam, October 2006 ^[21]

See also

• List of animal rights advocates

Notes

1. Ouwehand participated as lijstduwer.

References

• (in Dutch) Parlement.com biography

1. "Graduate programmes (Masters)" (in Dutch). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 11 November 2007.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "Esther Ouwehand" (in Dutch). Tweede Kamer. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
3. "150 volksvertegenwoordigers: ESTHER OUWEHAND" (in Dutch). Stichting Per Definitie. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
4. "Beroemde Headbangers: Esther Ouwehand" (in Dutch). Lords of Metal - Ramon. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
5. "Uitslag van de Tweede Kamerverkiezing van 22 november 2006" (in Dutch). Kiesraad. 27 November 2006. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
6. "Huub Oosterhuis en Kees van Kooten populair". De Volkskrant (in Dutch). 27 November 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2007.
7. "Frank Wassenberg tijdelijk Tweede Kamerlid voor de PvdD" (in Dutch). Parlement.com. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
8. "E. (Esther) Ouwehand" (in Dutch). Parlement.com. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
9. "Ouwehand (PvdD) terug in Tweede Kamer" (in Dutch). de Telegraaf. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
10. "Animal party leader leaves parliament after 13 years". NL Times. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
11. "Kiesraad - Verkiezingsuitslagen". www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
12. "Ouwehand (PvdD) wegens overbelasting tijdelijk uit Kamer". nos.nl (in Dutch). 11 October 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
13. "Esther Ouwehand". Party for the Animals (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
14. "Proces-verbaal zitting Kiesraad uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2006" [Records meeting Duch Electoral Council results 2006 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 27 November 2006. pp. 117–129. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
15. "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2010" [Results 2010 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 16 June 2010. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
16. "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2012" [Results 2012 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 17 September 2012. pp. 96–97. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
17. "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2017 (getekend exemplaar)" [Results House of Representatives 2017 (signed example)] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 21 March 2017. pp. 128–129. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
18. "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 135–136. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
19. "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 105–106. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
20. "Proces-verbaal centraal stembureau uitslag verkiezing Europees Parlement Model P22-1" [Central electoral council report of the results of the election of the European Parliament Model P22-1] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 19 June 2024. pp. 21–22, 41. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
21. (in Dutch) Election 2006 manifesto Archived 30 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• (in Dutch) Esther Ouwehand's weblog
• (in Dutch) House of Representatives biography
• (in Dutch) Perdefinitie.nl biography