Alexander Pechtold

Alexander Pechtold (born 16 December 1965) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party. He is the Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives and a Member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006. Pechtold has been the Leader of the Democrats 66 since 24 June 2006.

Pechtold, an art historian by occupation, worked for Van Stockum's Auctions as a auctioneer from 1992 until 1997. Pechtold was elected as Chairman of the Democrats 66 on 16 November 2002 and was selected as Mayor of Wageningen on 1 October 2003. In 2005 Pechtold was asked to become Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Balkenende II under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende following the resignation of Thom de Graaf. Pechtold accepted and resigned as Chairman and Mayor the same day he took office as the new Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations on 31 March 2005. On 29 June 2006 the Democrats 66 retracted their support for the Cabinet Balkenende II and Pechtold resigned as Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations on 3 July 2006. Pechtold was elected as the Leader of the Democrats 66 on 24 June 2006 after the Democrats 66 leadership election of 2006. For the Dutch general election of 2006 Pechtold became Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and the Democrats 66 lost three seats and became an opposition party. For the Dutch general election of 2010, Pechtold again as Lijsttrekker won ten seats but the Democrats 66 remained an opposition party. With the following Dutch general election of 2012, Pechtold again as Lijsttrekker won two seats but the Democrats 66 remained an opposition party.

Biography

Early life

Alexander Pechtold was born on 16 December 1965 in Delft in the Dutch province of South Holland. Pechtold and his older brother Roland Pechthold grew up in the village of Rhoon. He went to a Lyceum in Rotterdam. Pechtold studied art history and archaeology with a specialization in 17th-century painting at the Leiden University, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in 1996. During that time Pechtold obtained a certification as auctioneer and worked for the Van Stockum's Veilingen during his studies.

Politics

Party chair

Pechtold became a member of the Democrats 66 (D66) party in 1989. In 1994 he was elected as a Municipal councillor in Leiden and became a Alderman in 1996. On 16 November 2002 he was elected as Chairman of the Democrats 66. Pechtold was tasked with reforming the party after disastrous election results after Dutch general election of 2002 and preparing for the upcoming Dutch general election of 2003.

Mayor

On 1 October 2003 Pechtold was selected as Mayor of Wageningen while remaining Chairman of the Democrats 66.

Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations

On 23 March 2005 Thom de Graaf the Democrats 66 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Balkenende II resigned after the introduction of democratically-elected mayors had been rejected in the Senate. The proposal was especially important as it had become a symbol of the government reform that the Democrats 66 had wanted since its creation. Pechtold was asked to succeed himt as Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations. Pechtold resigned as Chairman and Mayor the same day he took office as the new Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations on 31 March 2005.

On 29 June 2006 the Democrats 66 retracted their support for the Cabinet Balkenende II. the next day, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende offered the resignation of the full cabinet to Queen Beatrix. Pechtold resigned as Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations on 3 July 2006. Fellow Democrat 66 cabinet member Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs resigned on 7 July 2006.

House of Representatives

Pechtold was elected as the Leader of the Democrats 66 on 24 June 2006 after the Democrats 66 leadership election of 2006, defeating the Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives Lousewies van der Laan who in turn had just succeed Boris Dittrich who resigned as Leader of the Democrats 66 and Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives on 3 February 2006.

In 2007 the parliamentarian press chose Pechtold with 31% of the votes as the "Dutch Politician of the Year 2007".

For the Dutch general election of 2006 Pechtold became Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and the Democrats 66 lost three seats and became an opposition party. For the Dutch general election of 2010, Pechtold again as Lijsttrekker won ten seats but the Democrats 66 remained an opposition party. With the following Dutch general election of 2012, Pechtold again as Lijsttrekker won two seats with the Democrats 66 again remaining an opposition party.

During the Fourth Balkenende cabinet administration Pechtold served as opposition leader against the cabinet. After the Dutch elections of 2010, the D66 won seven-seats in the House of Representatives which reporters claimed was due to Pechtolds leadership during the Fourth Balkenende cabinet time.^[1] After the 2010 Dutch cabinet formation the D66 again remained in opposition. In 2012, Pechtold published Henk, Ingrid, & Alexander, which ostensibly aimed to break through the populism that has dominated Dutch politics in the previous decade--"Henk" and "Ingrid" are the generic names proposed by Geert Wilders and other Party for Freedom politicians to represent the average Dutch couple—by engaging everyday people in conversation. The book was panned in de Volkskrant as a "cheap PR-stunt without any value to it."^[2]

During a debate with Mark Rutte in 2010, Pechtold championed the cause of social liberalism, noting that the government “needs to offer services where fairness is more important than efficiency, such as education and healthcare," while accusing Rutte of pursuing policies that hurt the most vulnerable in Dutch society.^[3]

After the shootdown of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, Pechtold explicitly voiced his support for economic expediency over ethical correctness by stating: "We are a small country, dependent on our exports, and unlike the United States, we cannot always react from our moral high grounds." ^[4]

References

External links

Official

• (Dutch) Drs. A. (Alexander) Pechtold Parlement & Politiek
• (Dutch) Alexander Pechtold Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Pechtold.

Ministers of Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Korthals Biesheuvel Bakker Nelissen Lardinois Geertsema De Gaay Fortman Van der Stee Den Uyl De Koning Lubbers Hirsch Ballin Lubbers Voorhoeve Peper Van Boxtel De Vries Remkes De Graaf Pechtold Nicolaï Ter Horst Hirsch Ballin Donner Spies Plasterk Blok Plasterk