Karsten Hønge

Karsten Hønge (born 25 September 1958 in Nykøbing Mors) is a Danish politician and member of the Folketing for the Socialist People's Party (SF). He is spokesperson for the party and for social dumping, transportation, employment, justice, rural areas, and Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Karsten Hønge

Karsten Hønge is one of few people, who has both been elected to city councils, county councils, regional council, Folketing, and the European Parliament.

Background and education

Karsten Hønge was born on 25 September 1958 in Nykøbing Mors. He is the son of Anker Hønge, a carpenter and Inger Hønge, a cleaning assistant.[1]

He graduated from Thisted Gymnasium in 1978, and became a carpenter in 1983.[1] In 2013 he became journalist from Danish School of Media and Journalism.[1]

Political career

He joined SF and it's youth wing SFU in 1973. He was a member of the national leadership of SFU in 1974-1977[1] He was politically active during his time at Thisted Gymnasium, and from 1977 to 1978 vice-chairman in Danske Gymnasieelevers Sammenslutning, the Danish association of gymnasium students.[1]

From 1978 to 1979, Hønge was a soldier at Skive Garrison, he was a member of the executive committee for the conscripts.[1]

Until 2007 he was chairman of the Fynes chapter of the trade union TIB (Træ Industri Byg), who lader merged with 3F.[1]

He was a member of the County Council in Fynen County from 2001 to 2006, and in the city council of Odense from 2005 to 2007, where he were leader of the group and member of the employment committee.

In the public debate, Hønge were on of the first on the left wing, who criticized Asmaa Abdol-Hamid from the Red-Green Alliance. He did so at the 2005 local elections, when they both ran for the city council in Odense.[2] I 2006 he wrote the pamphlet "A bull against fundamentalism. A defense for free thoughts." (Danish: ”En bandbulle mod fundamentalisme. Et forsvar for frisind"), critical of religious fundamentalism.[3]

Hønge had been a candidate to the Folketing since 1993, and at the 2007 general election, he was elected to the Folketing.

In 2013 he was elected to the regional council in the Region of Southern Denmark as the lead candidate from SF.

In January 2014, he joined the Folketing again as a substitute for Anne Baastrup who was on sick leave. He immediately made himself noticed with critical statements concerning the imminent sale of part of Dong to Goldman Sachs, which SF supported as part of the government.[4] His statements contributed to that party leader Annette Vilhelmsen resigned and SF left the government a week later. Due to his role in this, he was given the nickname "the substitute from hell" by the press.[5]

At the 2015 general election, Hønge was reelected to the Folketing in Fynen constituency.[6]

2019 election to the European Parliament

In May 2019, Hønge was a candidate to the European Parliament election, as SF's second candidate on the list after Margrete Auken. The party won two seats, and Hønge won the second. However, since he was also running for reelection to the Folketing at the general election 10 days later, he decided not to take his seat, who instead went to Kira Marie Peter-Hansen.[7] This was criticized by the voters who voted for him.[8] In 2018, Hønge said to a number of media outlets, that he would leave the Folketing, if he were elected to the European Parliament. In weeks prior to the election, Hønge had said to local media on Funen, that the general elections had first priority.[9][10] Hønge later apologized that he was unclear in the process, and called it an "election-blunder".[11] Several members of the Folketing later criticized SF and Hønge's decision, calling it to making fun of the voters and increasing the political alienation.[12][13]

gollark: The great thing about central planning is that you don't even have to *try* to cause a famine!
gollark: no.
gollark: Well, I would HOPE your worldviews can actually be affected by information?
gollark: source™
gollark: NationStates is an online game, and since the main *game* stuff is just answering issues quite a lot of it is RP on the forums, which I don't do.

References
  1. Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)
  2. Asmaa-kritiker ind for SF, TV 2, 14. november 2007
  3. ""Vikaren fra helvede" kom ind i SF-varmen | Navne | jv.dk". www.jv.dk (in Danish). 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  4. Portræt: Citatkonge skaber ravage på Borgen (DR Nyheder)
  5. Mie Louise Raatz (30 January 2014). "Portræt: Da 'vikaren fra helvede' vendte tilbage på Borgen". Politiken.
  6. Samtlige stemmer talt op: Se alle de folkevalgte her, 19. juni 2015, tv2.dk, set 21. juni 2015
  7. Nielsen, Nicolas S. (27 May 2019), SF's gruppeformand: Hønge har truffet et fornuftigt valg, DR, retrieved 28 May 2019
  8. Kielgast, Nis (28 May 2019), Vælgere om Karsten Hønges beslutning: ’Skuffende’ og ’svineri’, DR
  9. Rønn, Mette (13. maj 2019) Hønge går til dobbeltvalg - vil slet ikke vælges til EU, TV2/Fyn, hentet 1. juni 2019
  10. Augustinus, Mia S. (7. maj 2019) Dobbelt valgkamp: Hønge giver Folketinget førsteprioritet, Fyens Stiftstidende, hentet 1. juni 2019
  11. Ritzau/JP (28. maj 2019), https://jyllands-posten.dk/politik/ECE11412588/hoenge-undskylder-valgbroeler-en-fortjent-roevfuld-skal-man-laere-af/, Jyllands-Posten, hentet 1. juni 2019
  12. Alvorlig kritik hagler ned over Karsten Hønge: Uærligt, forkasteligt, fup og grotesk pinligt. Artikel på Berlingske.dk 28. maj 2019.
  13. "Folketingets formand: Hønge burde ikke frasige sig EU-mandat". Jyllands-Posten. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
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