ERNST-PITER STRIKWERDA

Ernst-Piter Strikwerda (born 13 February 1955 in Auerhaan) was from 2008 to 2011 the fifth prime minister of Kronenburg. He led a coalition government of PSV, PvG and PU.

Childhood and early career
Ernst-Piter was born in a catholic family, the middle one of five brothers, in the village of Auerhaan, north of Waterburg. He studied civil engineering at the Technical University 'Kornelis Frankema' in Waterburg and after that he went to the Royal University in Alexanderstad to study history of economics. For a brief period he was engaged as a teacher at the Willem Frederik Lyceum in the capital, until he became a Noordkamer member for the social-democratic PSV. In 2005 he succeeded Hermine Fultsema as party leader, in which capacity he became prime minister three years later.

Prime minister
Ernst-Piter Strikwerda's term as prime minister was quite tumultuous. His government came into power on 1 February 2008, at a time of economical hardship: the country was nearing bankruptcy in a way similar to Iceland, the two larger parties of the coalition were almost equally large (PSV and PvG had the same number of seats in the Noordkamer; PSV however had received a few more votes), which caused the image of two captains on one ship, and the small third party of the coaliton was constantly nagging about wanting Kronenburg to become a NATO member. The PvG seemed to be struggling to find a capable finance minister; within a year after Strikwerda's government got to work, two finance ministers had been sacked, the third one, Etto Reer, being finally the person the government needed most at that moment.

Later on, an internal crisis in Strikwerda's own political party, PSV, caused the government to falter: the rank-and-file of the party were of the opinion that the PSV ministers weren't propagating the PSV ideology enough and wanted to change the prime minister. The democratically chosen PSV members of the Noordkamer however were standing firm behind the prime minister, so nothing happened, except that Strikwerda was sure from that moment on that he wouldn't be granted a second term by his own party. The PvG and the PU, feeling that this affair could cause the public opinion to change to the prejudice of the voters, urged the prime minister to hand in his government's resignation before the end of term. This the prime minister did and early elections were held on 23 March 2011 (originally they were set for 26 October). During the last months of its term, the government had to face wikileaks, heavy protests against nuclear energy and some personal blunders by the prime minister himself.