Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen (born 8 November 1972) is a Faroese lawyer and politician for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) and the current prime minister of the Faroe Islands. He previously served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019. He is a former footballer.

Political career

At the 2008 Faroese general election, Aksel Johannesen was the party's 1st suppleant to the

Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; ) is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm. The name literally means "''Law Thing''"—that is, a law assembly—and derives from Old Norse ''lǫgþing ...

(Faroese Parliament), and sometimes he took seat in the parliament, especially for Andrias Petersen. He became minister of health on 16 July 2009, when John Johannessen 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 deputy prime minister. 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 from 2011 which was 1967 personal votes. Voted out of power in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, he returned to power in the 2022 Faroese general election.

Football career

Johannesen played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 the national cup in 1994 (Johannesen came in as a substitute in 2-1 final victory against B71 Sandur). Johannesen is also a noted runner, and was the national 100 meter 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 Summ ...

for Mjølnir, the club of Klaksvík.

Personal life

He is educated Master of Law from the

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

in 2004, and worked as a lawyer in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), 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 th ...

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

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 fir ...

, Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag, 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 former politician Vilhelm Johannesen and uncle of Beinir Johannesen, chairman of 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