Tarek Al-Wazir

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Tarek Al-Wazir
File:2016-02-04 Tarek Al-Wazir - MdL Hessen - 3647-2.jpg
Deputy Minister-President of Hesse
Assumed office
18 January 2014
Prime Minister Volker Bouffier
Preceded by Jörg-Uwe Hahn
Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development
Assumed office
18 January 2014
Prime Minister Volker Bouffier
Preceded by Florian Rentsch
Personal details
Born (1971-01-03) January 3, 1971 (age 53)
Offenbach am Main, Hesse,  West Germany
Nationality German
Political party Alliance '90/The Greens

Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir (Arabic: طارق الوزير‎‎; born January 3, 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been Deputy of the Hessian Minister-President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development. He is a member of the Landtag of Hesse and was co-chairman of the Hessian Green Party.

Personal life

Al-Wazir was born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, the son of an upper-class Yemeni father and a sudeten German mother. He holds dual citizenship with Yemen and Germany. His parents divorced while he was a child, and he spent several years of his youth in the Yemeni capital (Sana'a) with his father, an experience he later described as very influential in his personal development.[1]

After his Abitur in 1991, he studied political science in Frankfurt, where he earned a diplom. He is married to a Yemeni woman, with whom he has two sons.[2]

Political career

Al-Wazir joined the German Green Party in 1989, and has been a member ever since. From 1992 to 1994 he was chairman of the party's youth organisation (Green Youth) in Hesse. He has been a member of the Landtag since 1995 and is co-chairman of the Hessian Green Party (with Kordula Schulz-Asche).

He was the leader of the Greens during the Hesse state election of 2008, and as such was the Green candidate for the position of minister-president of Hesse. His party gained 7.5% of the votes. In the aftermath of the election, he pushed hard for a "red-green-red" coalition consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the far-left Die Linke party. This would have succeeded if not for an internal revolt by SPD members, forcing a new election in January 2009. In the 2009 elections, he again stood as the Green candidate for minister-president. This time his party, benefitting from popular anger at the SPD, increased its share to 13.7% of the vote, but the Greens remained out of government.

On 18 January 2014, after the 2013 elections, Al-Wazir became Deputy of the Hessia Minister-President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development in a Black-Green coalition.

External links

  1. Tarek, nicht Fritz, taz vom 27. Oktober 2008
  2. "Grünen-Chef Tarek Al-Wazir gilt als scharfzüngiger Redner", 12. January 2008