Marja Sanddorn (Pacifica)
Marja Sanddorn | |
|---|---|
 Sanddorn's campaigning picture (2017) | |
| Chancellor of GI-Land | |
| Assumed office 26 October 2021 | |
| King and Leader | Gianluca IV |
| Preceded by | Tom Kirchmann |
| Vice-Chancellor | Christian Strunk |
| Vice-Chancellor of GI-Land | |
| In office 16 September 2017 – 25 October 2021 | |
| Chancellor | Tom Kirchmann |
| King and Leader | Gianluca IV |
| Preceded by | Siegfried Hentzsch |
| Succeeded by | Christian Strunk |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs of GI-Land | |
| In office 16 September 2017 – 25 October 2021 | |
| Chancellor | Tom Kirchmann |
| King and Leader | Gianluca IV |
| Preceded by | Dr. Frank Carlos |
| Succeeded by | Christian Strunk |
| Leader of the Greens | |
| Assumed office 10 September 2016 | |
| Deputy | Dr. Ella Freude (2016-2020) Josefine Meerland (since 2020) |
| Preceded by | Simon Prolitz |
| Member of the Königspalast for Atlantis | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Parliamentary group | Greens |
| Constituency | Atlantis-Südstadt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 17, 1987 Saveri, Atlantis |
| Nationality | GI-Land |
| Political party | Greens |
Marja Sina Sanddorn [ˈmaːʁ͜ja ˈziːna ˈzantˌdɔʁn] (* 17 August 1987 in Saveri, Atlantis) is a Gianlucian politician and the first female chancellor of the Federal Republic of GI-Land. She was inaugurated on 26 October 2021 leading a green-liberal coalition.
Early life and education
Marja Sanddorn was raised as a single-child in a middle-class family, with the father being a priest and the mother earning money as a secretary in a medium-sized Atlantic company producing cameras. While the family lived in the countryside for the first seven years of Marja's life, they eventually moved to Südatlantis in early 1995. There she went to the Pegasus-Gymnasium and passed her Abitur in 2006 with an average grade of 1.5 (very good). After graduation from high school, she did not take any college courses, but decided on an apprenticeship as bookseller instead. Here also she passed the final exam with the best marks among her peers in 2009, eventually leading to her being immediately offered a lower-management position at a book store in Atlantis Südstadt, that she held onto until she was elected into the Königspalast in 2013.
Her background was sometimes subject of attacks from her Green Party's left wing, accusing her of not knowing the struggle poor or less privileged families, e.g. those without a Gianlucian background living in the Atlantic countryside, have to face. She defends herself by saying, she is in favour of more social policies although she has been privileged enough to never have belonged to that target group.
Political career
Early political involvement and election to the Königspalast
According to her father, Sanddorn was always interested in the world around her and thus began ritually watching the news together with her parents at the age of 8 already. Later she was also keen on being gifted a subscription to the New Atlantic Horizon, which she did not just use to study Austral, but also gain more knowledge about ecological and geopolitical situations around Pacifica. Shocked about the warnings of scientists about the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change, she decided to become actively involved in protests for more climate action and against nuclear power as of 2003. Because the Atlantic monarchy did not seem to be very interested in changing their policies, she openly supported the Incorporation of Atlantis in 2011. Sanddorn joined the Greens and hoped for more democracy in the newly formed country of GI-Land, which will eventually lead to a government taking the ecological problems more seriously. In order to influence this development herself, she ran for a seat in the Königspalast in 2013 and was actually able to secure Atlantis Südstadt as the only constituency, the Greens have directly won. This helped her immensely in taking over the leadership of the party in 2016.
Way to the chancellery
After the elections in 2017, she was appointed by Tom Kirchmann to be GI-Land's new foreign minister. While at first she did not appreciate, that the office of environment minister went to her younger internal rival Emre Klehn, she got used to her new position very quickly. Sanddorn did not only need to convince the parliament of the Bundesarmee mission on Sereva, but she also needed to influence Gianlucian foreign politics towards several countries rising to power in her tenure, using and refreshing the geopolitical knowledge she has had from the earlier years of her life.
After the death of chancellor Kirchmann on 11 July 2021, Marja Sanddorn announced, she, as the vice-chancellor, wants to take over the chancellery from her predecessor. However the King and Leader Gianluca IV was elected to this position under a provisional government instead. Although allegedly disappointed, she did not attack the Leader directly and continued her normal election campaign for the 2021 Gianlucian federal election as normal. This seemed to have had a positive impact on the voters, because on 5 September 2021 the Greens have won the federal election in a landslide, giving them the mandate to form a government. After difficult talks with the conservative KPHA and the Social Liberals, Sanddorn has decided to form a coalition with the latter. On 26 October 2021 she was inaugurated as the first female chancellor in Gianlucian history.
Personal life
Since 2015 Sanddorn is in a relationship with Sascha Herz, also a bookseller she has met for the first time during a constituency visit in 2014. She does not plan to have kids as long as she is in higher positions in the Gianlucian political system, because according to her "politics and family don't go together as well as they should".