Ernst Greifelt

Ernst Greifelt
State portrait, 2016
President of Vonzumier
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 July 2016
Chancellor	Eduard Nowack Albert Brodmann
Preceded by	Lorenz Wasskes
Chairman of the Constitutionalist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 January 2009
Deputy	Gert Kleiner
Preceded by	Adrian Schreiber
Chairman of the Auberlun Constitutionalist Party
In office 8 November 2007 – 11 March 2009
Preceded by	Caspar Eisenstadt
Succeeded by	Johannes Thimig
Member of the Senate from Auberlun
In office 15 February 2004 – 11 July 2016
Preceded by	Tilman Stosch
Succeeded by	Jozef Steuermann
Personal details
Born	Ernst Gerold Greifelt (1963-06-12) 12 June 1963 Lengenbeck, Auberlun, Vonzumier
Political party	Constitutionalist Party (2001–present)
Spouse	Olivia Greifelt
Children	3
Alma mater	Elmbrück University
Awards	Distinguished Air Cross Air Force Distinguished Service Award
Military service
Allegiance	Vonzumier
Branch/service	Vonzumier Air Force
Years of service	1988–1999 (active) 1999–2004 (reserve)
Rank	Oberstabsgefreiter
Battles/wars	Vonzumierian invasion of Preisland Preisland War

Ernst Gerold Greifelt (born 12 June 1963) is a Vonzumierian politician who has been the incumbent President of Vonzumier since 2016. He has been the leader of the Constitutionalist Party since 2009, of which he has been a member since 2001. Greifelt represented Auberlun in the Senate of Vonzumier from 2004 to 2016.

Greifelt was born and raised in the town of Lengenbeck in Auberlun state, before studying engineering at Elmbrück University. He enlisted in the Vonzumier Air Force in 1988, where he saw combat in the invasion of and later war in Preisland. He left active service in 1999 and authored a memoir, A War Close to Home, which, combined with his service medals and commendations, elevated him to war hero status in Vonzumier. Greifelt became a campaigner for the political right and the Constitutionalist Party, which he later joined in 2001. In 2004, he was elected by the Auberlun legislature to represent the state in the Senate. In his tenure as a senator, Greifelt became known for his strong support of national conservative policies, while advocating for increases in military spending, support for veterans, and a more interventionist foreign policy.

In late 2015, Greifelt announced his candidacy for the 2016 Vonzumierian presidential election. He campaigned against same-sex marriage, abortion, secularism, drug liberalization, and leftism, while calling for free market economic policies, increases in military and police spending, gun rights, and a "tough on crime" policy. He was criticized across the political spectrum for his alleged misogyny, xenophobia, racism, and homophobia—accusations he denied. Greifelt secured 41.3% of the vote in the first round of the election, advancing to a second-round runoff where he defeated Jonas Strauch with 52.3% of the vote. He was inaugurated as the 17th President of Vonzumier in July 2016.

During his presidency, Greifelt rolled back environmental and climate protections enacted by Lorenz Wasskes. He increased Vonzumier's troop deployments in West Oridia by threefold, cancelled foreign aid to "anti-Vonzumierian" regimes in Tusola and the Artalias, and increased sanctions on Bhasar and Hevatia while pursuing closer relations with Mahsadar and Zaihan. Greifelt has fought unsuccessfully to overturn same-sex civil unions, which have been legal since 2013. He reneged on his plan to lower taxes across the board, instead choosing to reduce the national value-added tax rate from 18% to 15%, and successfully privatized Vonzumier National Bank. His approval ratings have largely oscillated between 40% and 60% over the course of his tenure, but have been largely positive for most of 2020 after bottoming out from 2018 to 2019. In November 2020, Greifelt declared his intention to run for re-election in 2021.