Heide Simonis
Encyclopedia
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
as Heide Steinhardt) is a German politician. She is a member of the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
.
She was Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
from 1993 to 2005, the first woman to hold this position in any German state in Germany's history.
Life
Simonis earned her high school degree (AbiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
) in 1962 in Nürnberg. Thereafter, she studied economics and sociology at the Universities of Erlangen-Nürnberg and Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, that she finished with a degree in economics in 1967. She worked in different positions after 1967.
Simonis has been married to university professor Udo Simonis.
Political career
Simonis joined the SPD in 1969. She was elected to the German BundestagBundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
in 1976. In 1992, she became member of the legislature of Schleswig-Holstein. On May 19, 1993, she was elected Minister President of said state, after her predecessor Björn Engholm
Björn Engholm
Björn Engholm is a Lübeck born German SPD politician. He was Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein from 1988 to 1993 and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany between 1991 and 1993....
resigned from that position due to a scandal. She was the first woman in Germany to rise to this level in politics.
The state election in 1996 saw the SPD drop down to 39.8% (from 46.2% in 1992), but Simonis was able to form a coalition with the Greens. In February 2000, at the height of a CDU party financing scandal, the SPD was able to enlarge its share to 43.1%. Despite basing its 2005 election campaign on Simonis' popularity, the SPD suffered a heavy defeat due to the bad economic situation and dropped down to 38.7% (for the first time in almost twenty years behind the CDU).
On March 17, 2005 Simonis failed to be re-elected as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein in 4 consecutive ballots by the Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
(parliament) of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1st ballot
Ballot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
she received 34 votes and Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union party.Since 2005 he has been Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 2005/06....
(CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
) received 33 while 2 deputies cast empty votes. Neither Simonis nor Carstensen got the absolute majority (35 votes). In the 2nd and 3rd ballot the candidates received 34 votes each. Obviously one deputy of the alliance of SPD, Grüne
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
(Greens) and SSW abstained. An unprecedented 4th ballot brought the same result. Simonis has since stepped down as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein.