Background
Kleist was born on 31 March 1958 to a Danish telegraphist and a Greenlandic mother in Qullissat, and was raised by his aunt and uncle.
politician List of Prime Ministers of Greenland
Kleist was born on 31 March 1958 to a Danish telegraphist and a Greenlandic mother in Qullissat, and was raised by his aunt and uncle.
He attended primary school in Qullissat from 1966 until 1972 when the mining town was abandoned and then he attended lower secondary school in Sisimiut until 1975. He attended the Birkerød State School in Denmark from 1975 to 1978. Kleist graduated from Roskilde University in 1983 with a master's degree in social work (socionom).
When he was 17, he was sent to Denmark, alone and with no prior knowledge of Danish. He taught journalism in Nuuk from 1988 to 1991. In 1996, Kleist was appointed the Director of the Foreign Office of the Greenland Home Rule Government (Direktør for hjemmestyrets udenrigskontor).
IA will be the first party to govern the autonomous Danish territory under an expanded home rule agreement known as "self-rule" (selvstyre). While the self-rule agreement has been referred to a step towards eventual full independence from Denmark, Kleist's administration is expected to put "any push for independence on the backburner", given his pledge to focus on social issues such as alcoholism, domestic violence and a high suicide rate. Kleist had risen to power on an agenda that included cleaning up following government scandals.
Prime Minister
The party received the most votes in the 2009 election. In June 2009 the Greenlandic parliament therefore elected Kleist the 4th Prime Minister of Greenland. In late August 2009 Kleist met with Admiral Tim Sloth Jørgensen and General Walter Natynczyk, the Chief of Denmark's Defence staff and the Chief of Canada's Defence staff.
Jørgensen and Walter Natynczyk were conducting a tour of Danish and Canadian military bases in the Arctic.
A member of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, he was the first Prime Minister not affiliated with Siumut. He was a Member of the Danish Parliament from 20 November 2001 to 13 November 2007, representing the Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party. Since 2007, he has been the leader of IA, a leftist political party which works towards Greenland's eventual full autonomy from Denmark.
Member Greenland-Danish Home Rule Commission, 2004.