Johannes Kaiser (born 29 June 1958) is a politician from

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

who has served in the

Landtag of Liechtenstein The Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein () is the unicameral parliament of Liechtenstein. Qualifications Citizens who have attained the age of 18, have permanent residency in the country and have lived in the country for at least on ...

since 2001. He previously served as mayor of Mauren from 1991 to 2003.

Career

Kaiser was born on 29 June 1958 in

Eschen Eschen (; High Alemannic: ''Escha'') is a municipality in the north of Liechtenstein. It covers an area of , and is one of the five communes in the Unterland electoral district. As of 2024, it has a population of 4,629 inhabitants. Etymolog ...

as one of the five children of teacher Paul Kaiser and Brigitte Biedermann. He attended a teachers' training college in

Rickenbach, Schwyz Rickenbach is a village in the Schwyz, municipality of Schwyz, itself in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It lies some to the east of the town centre of Schwyz. The Rotenfluebahn links Rickenbach with the summit of the Rotenfluh mountain, whi ...

, and later trained in communication and management in St. Gallen. He worked as a primary school teacher in

Ruggell Ruggell (; dialectal: ''Ruggäll'') is a municipality of Liechtenstein. It is the northernmost and lowest elevated municipality. As of 2019, it has a population of 2,322. History Ruggell has an ancient history, with evidence of human activity pre ...

, and then as a secondary school teacher in Eschen until 1991. From 1987 to 1991 Kaiser was the vice president of the

Progressive Citizens' Party The Progressive Citizens' Party in Liechtenstein (, FBP) is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Liechtenstein, political party in Liechtenstein. The FBP is one of the two major party, major List of political parties in Liech ...

. He was the mayor of Mauren from

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

to 2003. He has been a member of the

since

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. During this time, he was the Progressive Citizens' Party's spokesman in the Landtag from 2009 to 2013 and the chairman of the finance committee from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017. From 2009 to 2013, 2017 to 2018, and again since 2021 he has been a member of the Liechtenstein judge selection committee. In 2008 Kaiser, alongside Herbert Oehri, founded the publisher ''Zeit-Verlag Anstalt'' in Eschen and he has remained a board member since. He is also an editor for the publisher's newspaper '' Lie:zeit''. In March 2018, Kaiser left the Progressive Citizens' Party due to personal conflicts with people in the party and rejected talks to resolve the situation. He also resigned from the judge selection committee in June of the same year. He served as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

member of the Landtag until 27 November 2019 where, upon his own request, he was readmitted into the party. He apologised for his actions and referred to them as a "mistake", and the issue was concluded by shaking hands with

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Adrian Hasler Adrian Hasler (; born 11 February 1964) is an economist and politician from Liechtenstein who served as List of heads of government of Liechtenstein, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from 2013 to 2021. He previously served in the Landtag of Liecht ...

. He was subsequently re-elected to the Landtag as a member of the party in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and re-joined the judge selection committee the same year. Kaiser was the leading opponent to Liechtenstein's accession to the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

in 2024; he campaigned against it. During this time, he was accused by prime minister

Daniel Risch Daniel Risch (; born 5 March 1978) is a politician from Liechtenstein who served as the Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from 2021 to 2025. He was previously the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, Deputy Prime Minister from 2017 to 2021, unde ...

of spreading misinformation. Since 2025, he has again been the Progressive Citizens' Party's spokesman in the Landtag.

Personal life

Kaiser married Ruth Hasler (born 6 May 1962) on 23 May 1990. His second marriage was to Julia Kajtazaj (born 13 June 1974) on 22 September 1999 and they have two children together. He is the brother-in-law of Maria Kaiser-Eberle, the mayor of Ruggell from 2015 to 2023.

Honours

* : Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein (2003)

References