Esther Ouwehand

Esther Ouwehand went to secondary school in Katwijk, where she finished her vwo (Dutch pre-university education). She studied Policy, communication and organisation at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, which she did not finish.^[1]

She was raised a Protestant but is currently an agnostic. She follows a fully plant-based diet^[2] and loves metal music, in particular stoner metal.^[3]

Initially, Ouwehand did not consider a career in politics. She was a junior marketing manager for youth magazines at Sanoma before going into politics.

She joined the Party for the Animals in October 2002 and became the party's co-ordinator in 2004. She was responsible for the management of the party's headquarters. She also co-authored the 2006 electoral program "220x liever..".

The general elections of 2006 were considered a great success for the party. The party gained 179,988 votes (1.8%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament. The party became the world's first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights.^[4]

She was second on the election list, right after party chairwoman Marianne Thieme. Consequently, she became a member of parliament, even though she received a total of 4.370 write-in votes, about a hundred less than lijstduwer Kees van Kooten, who received 4.479 votes.^[5] She was sworn in on 30 November 2006.

Contrary to her wishes she was not initially placed on the election list for the general elections of 2010, but the party members voted her on the second place, so she became re-elected.

Ouwehand temporarily resigned from the House on 17 November 2015 for health reasons and was replaced by Frank Wassenberg.^[6] She returned to the House on 18 October 2016.^[7][8]

On 8 October 2019, Ouwehand succeeded Marianne Thieme as parliamentary leader of the PvdD upon Thieme's retirement from the House of Representatives.^[9] She was the leader of the party in the 2021 House of Representatives elections.^[10] On 11 October 2022, she temporarily resigned her duties as MP and group chairman due to overwork,^[11] returning to the House of Representatives on 2 February 2023. Following her re-election in November 2023, she served as her party's spokesperson for agriculture next to her role as parliamentary leader.^[12]

• List of animal rights advocates