From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Van der Bellen
(born 18 January 1944) is an
Austrian
politician
and
economist
. He is the
President of Austria
since 2017. He won the
2016 election
after multiple court battles and narrow victories.
[1]
He was sworn into office on 26 January 2017 officially becoming the president. Van der Bellen is the country's second
green
president and the first to be directly elected by popular vote.
[2]
He was
re-elected
in 2022.
Van der Bellen was born in
Vienna
. His father was
Russian
and his mother was
Estonian
. He is the son of
aristocratic
refugees from Russia's
Bolshevik Revolution
.
[3]
They first escaped from
Pskov
to
Estonia
.
[3]
In 1962, he graduated from the
Akademisches Gymnasium
in
Innsbruck
. He studied
economics
at the
University of Innsbruck
. He received a
doctorate
in 1970.
Van der Bellen is a retired professor of economics at the
University of Vienna
. He is a member of the
Austrian Green Party
. He served as a member of the
National Council
from 1994 to 2012. He was the chairman of the parliamentary club and federal spokesperson of his party from 1997 to 2008.
[4]
[5]
He ran as a nominally independent candidate supported by the Green Party in the
2016 presidential election
, and finished second in the first round before winning the second round against far-right candidate
Norbert Hofer
.
[1]
A second election was ordered since the votes were too narrow. In December 2016, Van der Bellen won the election with more votes. He became the first Austrian president to be directly elected by popular vote.
[2]
He took office on 26 January 2017.
He was
re-elected
in October 2022 with almost 57% of the vote.
Van der Bellen supports green and social liberal policies, and is supportive of the
European Union
.
[6]
Media related to
Alexander Van der Bellen
at Wikimedia Commons