Viktor Oberhauser
Viktor Oberhauser | |
---|---|
Chancellor of Werania | |
Assumed office 4th June 2015 | |
Deputy | Veronika Althammer |
Preceded by | Dietrich Wittmann |
Leader of the Social Democratic Republican Party of Werania | |
Assumed office 24th September 2012 | |
Deputy | Heidi Lorenz |
Preceded by | Volker Friedeberg |
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure | |
In office 12th July 2007 – 24th May 2011 | |
Chancellor | Rasa Šalaševičiūtė |
Preceded by | Siegfried Lübeck |
Succeeded by | Beate Kämpfer |
Personal details | |
Born | Kolreuth, Werania | October 20, 1962
Political party | Social Democratic Republican Party of Werania |
Spouse | Annkathrin Hahnen |
Alma mater | Imperial Academy of Kolreuth Gofkecht University |
Viktor Oberhauser (born 20th October 1962, aged 62) is a Weranian politician who has served as the Chancellor of Werania since 2015. He is also the leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Republican Party of Werania (SPRO).
Oberhauser began his political career working as the chief of staff for Chancellor Wolfgang Löscher, serving in the role from 1992 to 1995. He resigned from the post in 1995 subsequently being elected to the Reichstag in the 1999 election. In the cabinet of Rasa Šalaševičiūtė from 2007-2011 Oberhauser served as the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. Following the SPRO's poor result in the 2011 election Oberhauser established himself as a leading critic of SPRO leader Volker Friedeberg, challenging him for the leadership in 2012. Oberhauser was subsequently elected SPRO leader and went onto lead the SPRO to become the largest party in the 2015 election whereafter he formed a coalition government with the Modern Centre Party.
Oberhauser is noted for being from the reformist wing of the SPRO, being more supportive of "third way" political positions.
Early life
Hylkema was born in 1962 in the city of Kolreuth to a middle-class Catholic family, with his father Konrad working as a diplomat and his mother Angela a secondary school teacher. He initially studied History at the Imperial Academy of Kolreuth from 1980, but dropped out in 1982 studying political science at Gofkecht University. He graduated with a masters in the subject in 1987.
Political career
After graduation Oberhauser joined the Social Democratic Republican Party of Werania (SPRO) and worked as a correspondent for the right-wing tabloid the Daily Herald. In 1990 he left the Herald to work for the SPRO in its campaign office during the 1991 general election. Following the election Oberhauser was appointed to work for SPRO leader and Chancellor Wolfgang Löscher, becoming Löscher's Deputy Chief Communications Officer in 1992. In his role as communications officer Oberhauser brought connections with right-wing tabloids that he had cultivated during his three years at the Daily Herald, leading to the government to adopt a more right-wing tone as its popularity sank in the face of a reinvigorated National Consolidation Party under Heinrich Schuberth. Oberhauser was seen in this period as being "indispensable" in persuading the left-wing of the SPRO to approve of several privatisations and budget cuts undertaken during the Damastra government.
Following the government losing power in the 1995 election Oberhauser stayed in the SPRO's press office, being a supporter of the new SPRO leader and former Finance Minister Jürgen Zimmermen and being seen as supporting the centrist faction of the party. In the 1999 election Oberhauser was elected representing the Steingarten district in his home city of Kolreuth. The SPRO however failed to beat the NKP led coalition and stayed in opposition leading to Zimmermen's resignation.