Alexander Pechtold

Alexander Pechtold
Leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 2006
Preceded by	Lousewies van der Laan
Leader of the Democrats 66
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 June 2006
Preceded by	Boris Dittrich
Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations
In office 31 March 2005 – 3 July 2006
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Thom de Graaf
Succeeded by	Atzo Nicolaï
Mayor of Wageningen
In office 1 October 2003 – 31 March 2005
Preceded by	Geke Faber
Succeeded by	Geert van Rumund
Chair of the Democrats 66
In office 16 November 2002 – 31 March 2005
Leader	Thom de Graaf Boris Dittrich
Preceded by	Gerard Schouw
Succeeded by	Frank Dales
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 2006
Personal details
Born	(1965-12-16) 16 December 1965 Delft, Netherlands
Political party	Democrats 66
Spouse(s)	Froukje Idema (1997–present)
Children	Elske Jacco
Education	Leiden University

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

Pechtold, an art historian by training, worked for Van Stockum's Auctions as a auctioneer from 1992 until 1997. He was elected Chairman of the D66 on 16 November 2002, and was selected as Mayor of Wageningen on 1 October 2003. In 2005 he was asked to become Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations in the Second Balkenende cabinet under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, following the resignation of Thom de Graaf. Pechtold accepted the position, and resigned as Chairman and Mayor the same day that he took office as Minister on 31 March 2005. The D66 retracted its support for the Balkenende cabinet on 29 June 2006, and Pechtold resigned as Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations on 3 July 2006. He was elected the Leader of the D66 on 24 June 2006, after the party's leadership election of 2006. In the general election of 2006 Pechtold became Lijsttrekker (top candidate); the D66 lost three seats, and became an opposition party. In the election of 2010, when Pechtold was again Lijsttrekker, the D66 gained seven seats, for a total of ten, but remained an opposition party. In the following Dutch general election of 2012, with Pechtold still Lijsttrekker, the D66 gained another two seats but remained an opposition party, while in the Dutch general election of 2017 gained a further seven seats, for a total of nineteen.

Biography

Early life

Alexander Pechtold was born on 16 December 1965 in Delft in the Dutch province of South Holland. Pechtold and his elder brother Roland Pechtold 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 certification as an 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. He was elected as a Municipal councillor in Leiden in 1994, and became a Alderman in 1996. On 16 November 2002 he was elected as Chairman of the D66. Pechtold was tasked with reforming the party after its disastrous results in the general election of 2002, and preparing for the upcoming election of 2003.

Mayor

On 1 October 2003, Pechtold was selected as Mayor of Wageningen; he remained Chairman of the D66.

Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations

Thom de Graaf, the D66 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations in the Second Balkenende cabinet, resigned on 23 March 2005 after the introduction of democratically elected mayors had been rejected in the Senate. The proposal was especially important; it had become a symbol of the government reform that the D66 had wanted since the party's creation. Pechtold was asked to succeed him as Minister. Pechtold resigned as Chairman and Mayor the same day that he took office as the new Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations, on 31 March 2005.

On 29 June 2006 the D66 retracted its support for the Balkenende cabinet. 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. His fellow D66 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 the Leader of the D66 on 24 June 2006 in the leadership election of 2006, defeating Lousewies van der Laan, the party's Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives. Van der Laan had only a few months earlier succeeded Boris Dittrich, who had resigned as party leader and Parliamentary leader 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. 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."

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.

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."

External links

Official

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

Party political offices
Preceded by Gerard Schouw	Chair of the Democrats 66 2002–2005	Succeeded by Frank Dales
Preceded by Boris Dittrich	Leader of the Democrats 66 2006–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Lousewies van der Laan	Leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives 2006–present
Political offices
Preceded by Geke Faber	Mayor of Wageningen 2003–2005	Succeeded by Geert van Rumund
Preceded by Thom de Graaf	Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations 2005–2006	Succeeded by Atzo Nicolaï