Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen (born 8 November 1972 in

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

) is a Faroese lawyer and politician for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) and the current

prime minister of the Faroe Islands The prime minister of the Faroe Islands is the head of government of the Faroe Islands The Faroese term (plural: ) literally means "lawman" and originally referred to the legal function of lawspeaker. This old title was brought back into use ...

and also served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019. He is a former footballer.

Political career

At the

2008 Faroese general election General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 19 January 2008, the latest possible date. The Self-Government Party and the Centre Party gained a seat each while the Social Democratic Party lost a seat. It had been considered to amend the ...

Aksel Johannesen was the party's 1st suppleant to the Løgting (Faroese Parliament), and sometimes he took seat in the parliament, especially for

Andrias Petersen ''Andrias'' is a genus of giant salamanders. It includes the largest salamanders in the world, with ''A. japonicus'' reaching a length of , and ''A. sligoi'' reaching . While extant species are only known from East Asia, several extinct species i ...

. He became

minister of health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

on 16 July 2009, when

John Johannessen John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

declined the minister position after Hans Pauli Strøm stepped down. He resigned as minister of health and was assigned as minister of finance on 21 February and was at the same time elected president of the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) on 5 March 2011. On 6 April the same year, he was appointed as vice prime minister. His main task as the president of the Social Democratic Party was to make the party rise to its former strength again for the upcoming election for the Løgting. On 14 November 2011 the cabinet was renewed and the Social Democratic Party was not a part of the new cabinet. Aksel Johannesen then became chairman of the Social Democratic Party on the Løgting. At the Faroese general election on 1 September 2015, Johannesen's party won the election with 25.1% of the votes and he became prime minister. Johannesen himself got 2405 personal votes which was a new Faroese record. He broke the record of

Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen (born 28 August 1964 in Tórshavn) is a Faroese politician. He was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands, representing the Faroese Unionist Party ( Sambandsflokkurin). He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on 2 ...

from 2011 which was 1967 personal votes. At the Faroese general election on 8 December 2022 he was reelected, and on 22 December 2022 he was elected prime minister.

Football career

Aksel V. Johannesen played football with his hometown club KÍ Klaksvík, mostly as a forward. Although not always an automatic choice for the starting XI, he made his contribution, as KÍ won the Faroese League in 1991 and National cup in 1994 (Johannesen came in as a substitute in 2-1 final victory against

B71 Sandur B71 (Sandoy) (B71 being short for Bóltfelagið 1971 – literal translation: "Ball Club 1971") is a Faroese sports club, playing their home games '' Inni í Dal'', Sandur. Teams are made up of players from all the towns on the island of S ...

). Aksel V. Johannesen is also a noted runner, he was national 100 meters champion in 1994. He also played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

for Mjølnir, the club of Klaksvík.

Personal life

He is educated Master of Law from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

in 2004, and worked as a lawyer in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

from 2007 until he became an active politician. He is former president of the football club of

Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag ( Faroese for ''Sports Club of Klaksvík''), commonly known as KÍ, is a Faroese professional football club based in Klaksvík. The club was founded in 1904 and is one of the most successful Faroese football clubs, h ...

, where he used to play football in his youth. He is married to Katrin Apol, with whom he has three children. Johannesen is the son of Vilhelm Johannesen, a former Faroese politician, and uncle of Beinir Johannesen, a politician representing the People's Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johannesen, Aksel V. 1972 births Living people Members of the Løgting Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands) politicians Health ministers of the Faroe Islands Finance Ministers of the Faroe Islands Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag players Prime Ministers of the Faroe Islands Faroese sportsperson-politicians 21st-century Danish politicians People from Klaksvík Faroese men's footballers Men's association football forwards