Uffe Elbæk

Uffe Elbæk
Political leader of The Alternative
Assumed office
27 november 2013
Member of the Folketing
Assumed office
15 September 2011
Constituency Copenhagen
Personal details
Born (1954-06-15) 15 June 1954
Aarhus, Denmark
Political party Social Liberal Party
(2011-2013)
The Alternative
(2013-present)
Domestic partner Jens Pedersen

Uffe Elbæk (born June 15, 1954 at Ry Højskole) is a Danish social worker, author, entrepreneur, politician and political leader of a political party, The Alternative.

From the 3rd of October 2011 to December 2012 he served as the Danish Minister of Culture.

He was originally a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party, which he left in September 2013. Now he represents a new Green party The Alternative, which he launched in November 2013 alongside the co-founder Josephine Fock.[1][2] The Alternative received 4,8% of the votes at the parliamentary election in Denmark on June the 18th and achieved nine seats in the parliament.

Career

Uffe Elbæk is the founder and former Principal of the KaosPilots International School of New Business Design and Social Innovation, located in Aarhus. The KaosPilots school inspired the creation of several international schools located in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. He was also one of the initiators for the cultural entrepreneur-milieu called Frontløberne.[3]

From 2007 to 2009, Elbæk served as the CEO of the 2009 World Outgames.[4]

In July 2010, Elbæk founded the consulting company Change The Game with focus on leadership training skills, political campaigning and social innovation concepts.

Elbæk won a seat in the Folketing for the Danish Social Liberal Party in the 2011 Danish parliamentary election. On the 3rd of October 2011 he was appointed Culture Minister of Denmark in the government cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. He resigned his minister position in December 2012 after criticism for holding five official gatherings at the organization AFUK - Akademiet For Utæmmet Kreativitet, where he previously held a chairman post, and where his husband was employed. He was later acquitted of all charges by the national audit agency of Denmark that concluded he hadn't had a conflict of interest. The Ministry was instead criticized for some other facets related to the case.[5] In 2013 he resumed his work at the Folketing as an independent.

Elbæk lives with Jens Pedersen in a registered partnership [3] and has two kids from former relationships.

The Alternative

On the 27th of November 2013, Uffe Elbæk hosted a press conference where he announced the formation of a new "green" political party named The Alternative. The Party did not have a traditional political program, but wanted to develop it together with the citizens through so called "political laboratories".[6]

During springtime 2014, 20 political laboratories were conducted all over Denmark, where more than 700 citizens participated. Shortly after, on the 24th of May, the first crowdsourced political program became a reality.[7] [Link to the first edition. Newest edition is here:[8]] . The political program is updated regularly as the specific policies are developed through the political laboratories, and then verified and endorsed by the unit of political decision-makers in the Alternative, Politisk Forum (The Politic Forum).[9]

On February the 23th Uffe Elbæk made use of Twitter to break the news, that The Alternative had gathered enough signatures to become eligible to take part in the forthcoming parliamentary election.[10] This was officially confirmed and accepted by the Interior Ministry the 23rd of March, where the party was granted the letter Å on the electoral lists.

At the Parliamentary election on the 18th of June, the Alternative obtained 4,8% of the votes (168.788), which gave them nine seats in the parliament. Uffe Elbæk received 18.796 personal votes, thereby attaining the 10th-most personal votes this election.[11]

In addition to Uffe Elbæk, the members of the parliamentary group of The Alternative are Carolina Maier, Josephine Fock, Christian Poll, Torsten Gejl, Rasmus Nordqvist, Ulla Sandbæk, Roger Matthisen and René Gade.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Uffe Elbæk stifter nyt parti". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  2. ↑ "Josephine Fock - The Alternative". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  3. ↑ "Frontloeberne". www.frontloberne.dk. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  4. ↑ "Play the Game supports World Outgames 2009". www.playthegame.org. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  5. ↑ "Avis: Rigsrevision frikender Uffe Elbæk i cirkussag". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  6. ↑ "POLITISKE LABORATORIER - Alternativet". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  7. ↑ "The first political program 2014" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "Partiprogram - Alternativet". Alternativet. Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  9. ↑ "Politisk Forum - Alternativet". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  10. ↑ "Uffe Elbaek on Twitter". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  11. ↑ "Her er valgets stemmeslugere - og dem færrest stemte på". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
  12. ↑ "Alternativets folketingsgruppe har fordelt ordførerskaberne - Alternativet". Retrieved 2015-08-11.
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