Josef Felder
Josef Felder | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait of Josef Felder | |
| 43rd Chancellor of Werania | |
| Monarch | Charlotte II |
| Deputy | Klaus Reimann |
| Preceded by | Viktor Oberhauser |
| Succeeded by | Otto von Hößlin |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania | |
| In office 17th February 2018 – 1st June 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Viktor Oberhauser |
| Succeeded by | Konrad Schröder (acting) Luise Höcherl |
| Minister-President of Cislania | |
| In office 17th February 2018 – 17th October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Fischler |
| Succeeded by | Viktoria Berlepsch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 12, 1955 Frauberg, Cislania, Werania |
| Political party | SRPO (1985-present) |
| Other political affiliations | OSAI (1974-1985) |
| Spouse | Yvonne Kallenbach |
Josef Felder (born 12 July 1955) is a Weranian politician who served as Chancellor of Werania from February 2018 to May 2019 and the Minister-President of Cislania from 2010 to 2018. He is a member of the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania.
Felder was a member of the Cislanian Landtag from 1998 to 2017, having previously been a co-ordinator for the Union of Industrial Mining Workers'. In 2006 he was elected as leader of the Cislanian SRPO and led the party to victory in the 2010 regional election, being inaugurated as Minister-President in a SRPO majority government. He won re-election in 2014 in a coalition with the Weranic Section of the Workers' International and the Green Party.
In 2018 following the resignation of Chancellor and SRPO leader Viktor Oberhauser after the SRPO lost their majority in the Herrstag Felder was nominated for t0he leadership due to his self-styled "maverick" reputation which was seen as a potential boon as the SRPO suffered from very low polling. He subsequently won the leadership election and became Chancellor, entering the Volkstag in Oberhauser's former seat with initially high approval ratings. However his confrontational style failed to improve the SRPO's poll ratings which plummeted after the SRPO lost important regional elections. In November 2018 Felder's government narrowly avoided a collapse after he attempted to call an early election which was opposed by his coalition partners the Modern Centre Party.
The 2019 federal election saw a severe loss for the SRPO with Felder losing his constituency seat, although he remained in the Volkstag through a proportional seat. Felder resigned as SRPO leader and Chancellor, formally leaving office on the 28 June 2019 when he was succeeded as Chancellor by Otto von Hößlin.
Early life
Josef Felder was born in the industrial town of Frauberg. His father Stephen Felder was a miner whilst his mother Juliane Hilscher worked as a chamber-maid in a hotel. Felder was the second of two children with his older sister Melissa being seven years his senior.
Felder attended the Frauberg-Metz gymnasium during his teenage years and graduated with high marks in 1973. Felder passed entrance exams to attend the Regenstadt University studying engineering. However he dropped out seven months into his course there - Felder claims his drop-out was due to being unable to afford the tuition fees for the university, although some of his peers have alleged he dropped out due to poor grades and attendance. Felder subsequently followed in his fathers stead as a miner, working at the Frauberg-Sud mine from 1980 after completing compulsory military service that year.
Trade unionist
Felder soon became involved in the trade union movement, joining the Union of Industrial Mining Workers' (UIB) shortly after entering the pits. Three years after joining the UIB Felder was elected as the union's representative for the Frauberg-Sud mine. Felder would raise through the union ranks and in 1996 was elected as the regional UIB co-ordinator for the entirety of Cislania. During his time as regional coordinator Felder clashed with the incumbent NKP-PMZ regional government which was closing unprofitable mines across the province, with Felder calling the actions a "disgrace". In 1998 Felder successfully negotiated a pause in the closing of coalmines in return for the UIB also pausing strike action regarding pit closures, bolstering his profile.
Political career
Felder had been a member of the Weranic Section of the Workers' International in his teens, but switched to become a member of the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania in 1985 when the UIB itself switch from supporting the OSAI to the SRPO. Felder ran to become Mayor of Frauberg as the SRPO candidate in 1994 but was defeated by the popular OSAI incumbent.
At the 1998 Cislanian regional election Felder was elected as a member of the SRPO in the Cislanian Landtag, subsequently resigning as the UIB coordinator in Cislania upon his election. In 2002 he was appointed as the Cislanian SRPO's deputy leader after gained a reputation as a tough operator within the Landtag and in 2006 was elected as the leader of the Cislanian SRPO after previous party leader Eric Freytag led the party to another defeat to the incumbent NKP-led coalition.
Minister-President of Cislania
The province of Cislania is often seen as a bellwether for Weranian electoral politics, with the regional election being sometimes seen as a "trial run" for upcoming federal elections. As both the Cislanian and federal governments were governed by NKP-led coalitions in 2010 and with a federal election scheduled for 2011 interest in the 2010 Cislanian election was high, as a victory for the SRPO would've indicated that in 2011 would result in a change of federal government. Felder's campaign however mainly emphasised pocketbook issues pledging to reinvigorate the then stuttering economy and reduce unemployment.
Felder lead the SRPO to their best result in Cislania gaining 46.5% of the vote and 110 seats, a clear majority in the 202 member chamber. Felder was sworn in to succeed Arthur Fischler on the 12th May 2010 in an all-SRPO cabinet.
As Minister-President of Cislania Felder's headline project was to increase welfare handouts in Cislania which Felder claimed would boost consumer spending power and thereby kickstart economic growth. In 2011 the Cislanian Landtag passed legislation that oversaw the imposition of a conditional cash-handout for various struggling families which included a baby bonus of €700 for infant, €700 for disabled children, €700 annual for numerous families and €3,000 of credit for occasional workers. The policy was praised by anti-deprivation charities and activists but attracted criticism for its high cost.
Felder also emphasised fiscal responsibility during his time as Minister-President and worked to reduce costs particularly after his anti-poverty cash handouts resulted in a high fiscal deficit for the 2011-2012 year. Felder came under fire for continuing and expanding the NKP's programme of creating public-private partnerships particularly in the healthcare sector which his left-wing critics accused of driving up healthcare costs.
Felder was a vocal supporter of the federal governments decision in 2014 under Ellis Koopmann to legalise same-sex marriage on a federal level. Felder had in his 2010 campaign promised to pass same-sex marriage on a provincial level in Cislania, although did not do so for his first four years in office.
At the 2014 Cislanian election Felder was able to lead the SRPO to once again become the largest party, with the SRPO's vote share being a reduced 38.6% which entitled them to 79 seats. Felder formed a coalition government with the Weranic Section of the Workers' International which had 14 seats and the Green Party which had 14 seats giving his governing coalition a total of 105 seats in a pink-red-green coalition. Felder admitted that the SRPO performance had been "disappointing" and pledged to restore voters trust.
In March 2015 Felder announced that the Cislanian government would have a climate target of reducing emissions by 50% by a 2025 deadline. The pledge was warmly received by Felder's Green coalition partners but saw criticism by some of Felder's former peers in the UIB as well as the fossil fuel industry.
In May 2016 Felder nationalised the Brechels-Kreis shipyard in order to prevent job losses. The decision was opposed by the federal government.
SRPO leader
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Throughout 2017 to 2018 the federal government of Chancellor Viktor Oberhauser had suffered a steady decline in popularity due to infighting within the SRPO, corruption scandals and a perceived failure to deal with rising crime or stagnating standards of living. In January 2018 the government lost its majority at the upper house elections that year going from 124 seats to 93 seats. As a result after facing extremely poor polling Oberhauser announced he would resign as SRPO leader immediately, continuing to serve as Chancellor in a caretaker capacity until the SRPO could elect a successor.
The SRPO wished to avoid a lengthy leadership contest whilst seeking to revive its flagging polling numbers. The initial candidate that most expected to run and win was the foreign minister Klaus Bachmann - however Bachmann was considered to be a continuity choice with his ability to turn around the party fortunes being seen as dire. Prominent members of the party thus encouraged Felder to run including chancellor Oberhauser. Felder was seen as an outsider to the SRPO hierarchy and having not served in the federal government was unconnected to the scandals that had engulfed them. Felder also was seen to possess a straight-talking and no-nonsense style that widely differed from the more media-focused image of Oberhauser as well as being able to match the similarly bullish personality of opposition leader Otto von Hößlin.
Felder was initially unconvinced on the prospect of taking power as SRPO leader, himself leading the SRPO's re-election efforts in Cislania where the incumbent centre-left government faced a reinvigorated NKP. Felder changed his mind however when Bachmann announced he would not run and announced his candidacy on the 1st February. Felder faced Minister of the Economy and Industry Luise Höcherl for the position with the vote being amongst SRPO parliamentarians. Felder won with 196 votes to Höcherl's 59 out of 257 lawmakers with two abstentions. Felder subsequently entered the Volkstag on the 16th February after being appointed to serve in Oberhauser's now vacant seat, forming a government the next day.