Friday, September 7, 2007
Jóannes Dan Eidesgaard (born April 19, 1951), is the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands. He has held the position since 3 February 2004, shortly after the general election of 20 January 2004.
Life and Political Career
Jóannes Eidesgaard was born on 19 April 1951, in Tvøroyri on the island of Suðuroy, where he later became a senior-school teacher.
Eidesgaard was first elected to the Løgting, the Faroese parliament, in 1990. Between 1991 to 1996 he was a Minister under different coalition governments, and from 1994 to 1996 he became Deputy Prime Minister. In 1996 Eidesgaard became Party Chairman of the Javnaðarflokkurin.
In 1998, up until 2001, Eidesgaard was one of the two Faroese delegates in the Danish parliament, the Folketing.
On 3 February 2004 Jóannes Eidesgaard was elected Prime Minister and is now head of the government (Løgmaður) in the Faroe Islands. He leads a coalition government [1] between the Unionist Party, the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party.