European Union budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite was elected as the first woman president of Lithuanian, the Baltic nation battling a deep recession, official results showed on Sunday.
The 53-year-old, a tough-talking former finance minister, ran as an independent candidate, enhancing her popularity in contrast to the main political parties, whose standing were hit by the economic downturn and allegations of corruption.
With 96 per cent of votes counted, she secured a little over 68 per cent support. Turnout was 51 per cent, just above the 50 per cent needed to give her an outright first round win.
The country, an EU and Nato member since 2004, experienced its worst post-Soviet rioting in January.
In Lithuania, the president is the head of state and formally appoints the prime minister and the cabinet.
While presidents have some influence over economic policies, including the right to veto budget law, their executive powers are limited to implementing foreign and defence policies together with the government.
"I congratulate the Lithuanian people for their choice," she told a cheering crowd at her election headquarters, adding: "The taste of victory is the burden of responsibility."
The EU will now have to find a new budget commissioner.
Grybauskaite had been clear favourite throughout the campaign.
As president, she has the power to fire ministers, though she has said she broadly backs the budget austerity measures of the centre-right prime minister.
However, she has said some tax rises have been a mistake. She also wants to stimulate exports, absorb EU aid faster and provide tax breaks for small and medium-sized businesses.
"I think that together we will be able to emerge from these times of hardships much better, much more direct and much richer," she said.
After a presidential election, the government has to resign and be re-appointed and she said this would her first job after her inauguration on July 12.
She is expected to again approve Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, head of a four-party centre-right coalition, but has said she would use her powers for a reshuffle. "We shall see which ministers remain in office...," she told reporters.
"We need new ideas, we need someone to inspire the people to be more optimistic. The mood is quite gloomy at the moment," said Elena Juozapaitiene, 23, a student of medicine, during election day.
Showing posts with label Female Politicians in Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Female Politicians in Europe. Show all posts
Borjana Kristo
FBIH ENTITY PRESIDENT BORJANA KRISTO MET WITH OSCE AMBASSADOR DOUGLAS DAVIDSON
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 17,2007) –
The FBiH Entity President Borjana Kristo met with Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia Douglas Davidson in Sarajevo.They discussed the political situation in Bosnia in the context of political and economic reforms in the country.
The talks focussed on the development and strengthening of democracy and the establishment of professional and democratic institutions which through a developed system of legal regulation need to protect the social-economic rights of all Bosnian citizens, the FBiH Entity President’s Cabinet stated.
International institutions play an important role in the development of a functional and democratic Bosnian society. However, the readiness of the domestic authorities to take full responsibility in the interest of all Bosnian citizens is certainly a result of the maturing of the political scene in Bosnia.
Both sides expressed readiness to continue working together, the FBiH Entity President’s Cabinet stated.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 17,2007) –
The FBiH Entity President Borjana Kristo met with Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia Douglas Davidson in Sarajevo.They discussed the political situation in Bosnia in the context of political and economic reforms in the country.
The talks focussed on the development and strengthening of democracy and the establishment of professional and democratic institutions which through a developed system of legal regulation need to protect the social-economic rights of all Bosnian citizens, the FBiH Entity President’s Cabinet stated.
International institutions play an important role in the development of a functional and democratic Bosnian society. However, the readiness of the domestic authorities to take full responsibility in the interest of all Bosnian citizens is certainly a result of the maturing of the political scene in Bosnia.
Both sides expressed readiness to continue working together, the FBiH Entity President’s Cabinet stated.
Ireland Female's president
President of Ireland launches the Christmas Road Safety Campaign
President Mary McAleese launched the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and An Garda Síochána Christmas and New Year Road Safety Campaign on Wednesday 25th November 2009 at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Speaking at the launch, the President praised Irish road users for the changes they have made in their behaviour on the road and for taking personal responsibility for how they share the road with others.
However, the President stated that,
'No-one has to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs. It is a personal choice, selfish, dangerous, inexcusable and downright bad. No-one has to drive without a seat belt, or with bald or underpressured tyres. No-one has to speed, no-one has to answer the mobile phone while driving, or check their lipstick or root around for a new CD or light up a cigarette. Driving requires total concentration, free from distractions we create, for we need to be ready at all times for the distraction and risks that others are getting ready to inflict on us whether we like it or not.'
President Mary McAleese launched the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and An Garda Síochána Christmas and New Year Road Safety Campaign on Wednesday 25th November 2009 at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Speaking at the launch, the President praised Irish road users for the changes they have made in their behaviour on the road and for taking personal responsibility for how they share the road with others.
However, the President stated that,
'No-one has to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs. It is a personal choice, selfish, dangerous, inexcusable and downright bad. No-one has to drive without a seat belt, or with bald or underpressured tyres. No-one has to speed, no-one has to answer the mobile phone while driving, or check their lipstick or root around for a new CD or light up a cigarette. Driving requires total concentration, free from distractions we create, for we need to be ready at all times for the distraction and risks that others are getting ready to inflict on us whether we like it or not.'
International Labour Conference
GENEVA (ILO News) -
In an address delivered today to the International Labour Conference in Geneva, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Madam Ruth Dreifuss, called upon the International Labour Organization (ILO) to resume its pioneering role and to redefine its place in the international community so as to be better prepared to meet the social challenges of globalization.
Madam Dreifuss also took this opportunity to announce that Switzerland would soon deposit instruments of ratification for the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), which she said "must remain the point of reference for the future" establishing the minimum age of child labour. She also called for the ratification and universal application of the new Convention on the most extreme forms of child labour, which is due to be adopted at the current session of the Conference.
Speaking to the delegates of the 174 ILO member States during a special sitting of the 87 th Session of the Conference, Madam Dreifuss recalled that social development in Switzerland had historically been closely linked to the ILO. She stated "the fact that maternity protection, which in 1919 was the subject of one of the first ILO Conventions is now once again on the agenda just as Switzerland is hoping to enact legislation in this area shows the interdependence of national and international developments".
One year after the establishment of the ILO in 1919, its secretariat, the International Labour Office, was set up in Geneva. "Switzerland", said Madam Dreifuss, "has always been very proud of its presence here within our borders, and this prestigious institution, after the International Committee of the Red Cross, has become a beacon of human rights and social justice in Geneva".
"The results achieved since 1919 have endowed the ILO with an undisputed international legitimacy for establishing the basic international conditions conducive to equitable economic and social relations within and between countries". Those instruments, she said, "remain valid today, and still contribute to peace".
In an address delivered today to the International Labour Conference in Geneva, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Madam Ruth Dreifuss, called upon the International Labour Organization (ILO) to resume its pioneering role and to redefine its place in the international community so as to be better prepared to meet the social challenges of globalization.
Madam Dreifuss also took this opportunity to announce that Switzerland would soon deposit instruments of ratification for the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), which she said "must remain the point of reference for the future" establishing the minimum age of child labour. She also called for the ratification and universal application of the new Convention on the most extreme forms of child labour, which is due to be adopted at the current session of the Conference.
Speaking to the delegates of the 174 ILO member States during a special sitting of the 87 th Session of the Conference, Madam Dreifuss recalled that social development in Switzerland had historically been closely linked to the ILO. She stated "the fact that maternity protection, which in 1919 was the subject of one of the first ILO Conventions is now once again on the agenda just as Switzerland is hoping to enact legislation in this area shows the interdependence of national and international developments".
One year after the establishment of the ILO in 1919, its secretariat, the International Labour Office, was set up in Geneva. "Switzerland", said Madam Dreifuss, "has always been very proud of its presence here within our borders, and this prestigious institution, after the International Committee of the Red Cross, has become a beacon of human rights and social justice in Geneva".
"The results achieved since 1919 have endowed the ILO with an undisputed international legitimacy for establishing the basic international conditions conducive to equitable economic and social relations within and between countries". Those instruments, she said, "remain valid today, and still contribute to peace".
German's Female Chancellor
German Chancellor- Angela Merkel
Over the past four years Angela Merkel has had to steer Germany through some difficult times, but remains very popular. She has proved supporters wrong by changing her image, which was feared to hinder her progress to the top.
Partly that is because she spruced up her appearance, wearing bright colours and sporting more stylish hairstyles - but largely it is because few people think it matters.
He says Mrs Merkel, the first chancellor from the former communist east,does not need to rely on charisma to win over voters, because she is a pragmatic politician who inspires confidence.
She has certainly impressed Germans, scoring approval ratings of 60% in the lead-up to the 27 September, 2009 election.
As a Protestant, East German woman, Angela Merkel, 55, broke the leadership mould of the Christian Democrats (CDU), traditionally dominated by Catholic west German men.
She had also been divorced, though she kept her first husband's surname, and, in the "party of the family", had no children.
When he was caught in a slush fund scandal, she was the first former Kohl ally to publicly break with the man who brought her into the cabinet, writing a front-page article calling for his resignation.
It helped put her in pole position when the party felt it needed a new beginning.
However, if her role in the Kohl saga suggests a ruthless streak, she is known more for her pragmatism and ability to compromise.
After being elected in 2005 she entered into coalition with her rivals in the Social Democrats (SPD), including her 2009 election challenger, and foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Many thought the coalition would break apart, but Mrs Merkel managed to hold it together, and in fact take the credit for Germany's emergence from recession, and the deal that kept Opel a going concern.
She has been criticised by some in her own party for an apparent shift to the left. But some analysts believe this is simply pragmatism.
If the exit poll results are confirmed, allowing her to ditch the SPD as a coalition partner in favour of the pro-business FDP, she is likely to resurrect her promised economic reforms, analysts say.
Born in Hamburg, Angela Merkel was only a couple of months old when her father, a Lutheran pastor, was given a parish in a small town in East Germany. She grew up in a rural area outside Berlin in the communist east, and showed a great talent for maths, science and languages. She earned a doctorate in physics but later worked as a chemist at a scientific academy in East Berlin.
She had never been involved in politics but, at the age of 36, she became involved in the burgeoning democracy movement in 1989 and, after the Berlin Wall came down, she got a job as government spokeswoman following the first democratic elections.
She joined the CDU two months before the reunification of Germany and within three months she was in the Kohl cabinet as minister for women and youth. She established herself in the party, rising through the ranks until she was chosen to lead it in 2000 and was elected Germany's first female chancellor in 2005.
She is married to a chemistry professor from Berlin, Joachim Sauer. The couple do not have any children.
Over the past four years Angela Merkel has had to steer Germany through some difficult times, but remains very popular. She has proved supporters wrong by changing her image, which was feared to hinder her progress to the top.
Partly that is because she spruced up her appearance, wearing bright colours and sporting more stylish hairstyles - but largely it is because few people think it matters.
He says Mrs Merkel, the first chancellor from the former communist east,does not need to rely on charisma to win over voters, because she is a pragmatic politician who inspires confidence.
She has certainly impressed Germans, scoring approval ratings of 60% in the lead-up to the 27 September, 2009 election.
As a Protestant, East German woman, Angela Merkel, 55, broke the leadership mould of the Christian Democrats (CDU), traditionally dominated by Catholic west German men.
She had also been divorced, though she kept her first husband's surname, and, in the "party of the family", had no children.
When he was caught in a slush fund scandal, she was the first former Kohl ally to publicly break with the man who brought her into the cabinet, writing a front-page article calling for his resignation.
It helped put her in pole position when the party felt it needed a new beginning.
However, if her role in the Kohl saga suggests a ruthless streak, she is known more for her pragmatism and ability to compromise.
After being elected in 2005 she entered into coalition with her rivals in the Social Democrats (SPD), including her 2009 election challenger, and foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Many thought the coalition would break apart, but Mrs Merkel managed to hold it together, and in fact take the credit for Germany's emergence from recession, and the deal that kept Opel a going concern.
She has been criticised by some in her own party for an apparent shift to the left. But some analysts believe this is simply pragmatism.
If the exit poll results are confirmed, allowing her to ditch the SPD as a coalition partner in favour of the pro-business FDP, she is likely to resurrect her promised economic reforms, analysts say.
Born in Hamburg, Angela Merkel was only a couple of months old when her father, a Lutheran pastor, was given a parish in a small town in East Germany. She grew up in a rural area outside Berlin in the communist east, and showed a great talent for maths, science and languages. She earned a doctorate in physics but later worked as a chemist at a scientific academy in East Berlin.
She had never been involved in politics but, at the age of 36, she became involved in the burgeoning democracy movement in 1989 and, after the Berlin Wall came down, she got a job as government spokeswoman following the first democratic elections.
She joined the CDU two months before the reunification of Germany and within three months she was in the Kohl cabinet as minister for women and youth. She established herself in the party, rising through the ranks until she was chosen to lead it in 2000 and was elected Germany's first female chancellor in 2005.
She is married to a chemistry professor from Berlin, Joachim Sauer. The couple do not have any children.
First lady of politics
Nancy Astor
Nancy Astor became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons, when she was elected Plymouth Sutton MP in 1919.
She was born in Virginia, USA, but she became an honorary Plymothian.
Her's is a fantastic story. Born into a rich family in 1879, she moved to England in 1904 after a failed first marriage.In 1906, she met and married someone else blessed with wealth - politician Waldorf Astor.
Waldorf became the Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1910, but he had to relinquish his seat when his father died, because he inherited his title of Viscount Astor.
With Waldorf having to move 'upstairs' to the House of Lords, his wife decided to stand in Plymouth Sutton in his place.
She won the election in November 1919, beating her main rival, Liberal Isaac Foot - the father of Michael Foot, who of course went on to lead the Labour Party.
She became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons.
Nancy Astor was a master of repartee, and she needed to have all her wits about her to survive in the male dominated world of politics.
Her maiden speech was about the perils of drinking, and in 1923 she introduced a Private Member's Bill which raised to 18 the age qualification for buying alcohol.
She was also a fervent fighter for women's causes and equal rights. In an interview given in 1956, she said: "I knew what kept me going - I was an ardent feminist.
"I always knew we had more moral strength. I once said in the House: 'We've got moral strength and you've got immoral strength'."
In fact, she kept going - to use her term - until the 1945 election, when she decided not to stand. By then she'd been MP for Plymouth Sutton for 26 years.
In the run-up to the WWII, she backed Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy.
But she became critical of his leadership in the early stages of the war and voted against the Government in May 1940 - helping Winston Churchill to become Prime Minister.
Nancy died in May 1964, but has relatives who still live in South Devon.
BBC
Nancy Astor became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons, when she was elected Plymouth Sutton MP in 1919.
She was born in Virginia, USA, but she became an honorary Plymothian.
Her's is a fantastic story. Born into a rich family in 1879, she moved to England in 1904 after a failed first marriage.In 1906, she met and married someone else blessed with wealth - politician Waldorf Astor.
Waldorf became the Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1910, but he had to relinquish his seat when his father died, because he inherited his title of Viscount Astor.
With Waldorf having to move 'upstairs' to the House of Lords, his wife decided to stand in Plymouth Sutton in his place.
She won the election in November 1919, beating her main rival, Liberal Isaac Foot - the father of Michael Foot, who of course went on to lead the Labour Party.
She became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons.
Nancy Astor was a master of repartee, and she needed to have all her wits about her to survive in the male dominated world of politics.
Her maiden speech was about the perils of drinking, and in 1923 she introduced a Private Member's Bill which raised to 18 the age qualification for buying alcohol.
She was also a fervent fighter for women's causes and equal rights. In an interview given in 1956, she said: "I knew what kept me going - I was an ardent feminist.
"I always knew we had more moral strength. I once said in the House: 'We've got moral strength and you've got immoral strength'."
In fact, she kept going - to use her term - until the 1945 election, when she decided not to stand. By then she'd been MP for Plymouth Sutton for 26 years.
In the run-up to the WWII, she backed Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy.
But she became critical of his leadership in the early stages of the war and voted against the Government in May 1940 - helping Winston Churchill to become Prime Minister.
Nancy died in May 1964, but has relatives who still live in South Devon.
BBC
British Female Politician
Diane Julie Abbott
Born September 27, 1953, London, England
British politician, the first woman of African descent elected to the House of Commons. Abbott’s parents, originally from Jamaica, immigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s.
She was educated at Harrow County Grammar School for Girls and received a degree in history from the University of Cambridge in 1973. Abbott worked as a civil servant in the Home Office (1976–80) and then as a television reporter (1980–84). A member of the Labour Party, she served as a press officer for the Greater London Council and the Lambeth Borough Council and was active on race and civil liberties issues. She served on the Westminster City Council (1982–86) and in 1987 was selected over the sitting Labour member of Parliament as the party’s candidate for the London constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
Easily winning office, she became the country’s first black woman member of Parliament and, with Bernie Grant and Paul Boateng, one of the first members of the House of Commons of African descent. Outspoken on many issues, Abbott occupied a left-of-centre position in the Labour Party during the 1990s, when Tony Blair’s reform (“modernization”) program abandoned many of the party’s traditional socialist policies.
Born September 27, 1953, London, England
British politician, the first woman of African descent elected to the House of Commons. Abbott’s parents, originally from Jamaica, immigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s.
She was educated at Harrow County Grammar School for Girls and received a degree in history from the University of Cambridge in 1973. Abbott worked as a civil servant in the Home Office (1976–80) and then as a television reporter (1980–84). A member of the Labour Party, she served as a press officer for the Greater London Council and the Lambeth Borough Council and was active on race and civil liberties issues. She served on the Westminster City Council (1982–86) and in 1987 was selected over the sitting Labour member of Parliament as the party’s candidate for the London constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
Easily winning office, she became the country’s first black woman member of Parliament and, with Bernie Grant and Paul Boateng, one of the first members of the House of Commons of African descent. Outspoken on many issues, Abbott occupied a left-of-centre position in the Labour Party during the 1990s, when Tony Blair’s reform (“modernization”) program abandoned many of the party’s traditional socialist policies.
Youngest Female MP
1969: Devlin is youngest-ever woman MP.
A 21-year-old woman, Bernadette Devlin, has become Britain's youngest ever female MP and the third youngest MP ever.
Standing as an independent Unity candidate, Miss Devlin wrested the seat of Mid-Ulster in Northern Ireland from the Ulster Unionists.
In a straight fight she defeated Anna Forrest, the widow of the late MP George Forrest, by more than 4,000 votes.
At the last general election Mr Forrest had a majority of just over 2,500.
It was only Miss Devlin's second foray into politics after standing against Northern Ireland's agriculture minister, James Chichester-Clark, in February's Stormont elections.
She polled nearly 6,000 votes against Major Chichester-Clark's 9,000.
In Mid-Ulster Miss Devlin was helped by the constituency's natural Catholic majority of about 4,000 and the fact that Mrs Forrest did not campaign at all.
The young MP, a Catholic, has declared her sympathies with the IRA and her win has dismayed Northern Ireland's Protestant community.
However, the Queen's University psychology student has always said her approach is non-sectarian and she wants to promote unity among the people of Ireland.
A leading figure in the student civil rights movement, Miss Devlin said her political ambitions were only awakened last October after she took part in a march that was violently suppressed by the police.
After her victory, Miss Devlin who turns 22 next Wednesday, said she would raise issues concerning Ulster in the House of Commons.
"I was elected by the oppressed people of Ulster and I shall work for them," she said.
She did not yet know when she would take her seat in Westminster or where, as an independent, she would sit, Miss Devlin added.
BBC
A 21-year-old woman, Bernadette Devlin, has become Britain's youngest ever female MP and the third youngest MP ever.
Standing as an independent Unity candidate, Miss Devlin wrested the seat of Mid-Ulster in Northern Ireland from the Ulster Unionists.
In a straight fight she defeated Anna Forrest, the widow of the late MP George Forrest, by more than 4,000 votes.
At the last general election Mr Forrest had a majority of just over 2,500.
It was only Miss Devlin's second foray into politics after standing against Northern Ireland's agriculture minister, James Chichester-Clark, in February's Stormont elections.
She polled nearly 6,000 votes against Major Chichester-Clark's 9,000.
In Mid-Ulster Miss Devlin was helped by the constituency's natural Catholic majority of about 4,000 and the fact that Mrs Forrest did not campaign at all.
The young MP, a Catholic, has declared her sympathies with the IRA and her win has dismayed Northern Ireland's Protestant community.
However, the Queen's University psychology student has always said her approach is non-sectarian and she wants to promote unity among the people of Ireland.
A leading figure in the student civil rights movement, Miss Devlin said her political ambitions were only awakened last October after she took part in a march that was violently suppressed by the police.
After her victory, Miss Devlin who turns 22 next Wednesday, said she would raise issues concerning Ulster in the House of Commons.
"I was elected by the oppressed people of Ulster and I shall work for them," she said.
She did not yet know when she would take her seat in Westminster or where, as an independent, she would sit, Miss Devlin added.
BBC
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