Marianne Louise Thieme is a Dutch politician of the Party for the Animals.
Education
Marianne Thieme studied at the Duno College in Doorwerth. After that she studied from 1991 to 1992 at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. From 1992 she studied law at Erasmus University Rotterdam with a specialization in administrative law.
Thieme graduated in 1997.
Career
She has been Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives since 23 November 2006 and an Member of Parliament since 30 November 2006. Thieme is a jurist by education, an animal rights activist, and an author by occupation. Life before politics
During this time she became a vegetarian.
Her interest in animal rights motivated her to start studying law.
From 1998 to 2001 Marianne Thieme worked at research agency B&A Group in The Hague. Between 2001 and 2004 she was policy official at Bont voor Dieren (Fur for Animals, a Dutch anti-fur animal welfare foundation).
Until November 2006 she was the general manager of Stichting Wakker Dier (a Dutch animal welfare foundation against industrial agriculture). During the Dutch general election of 2003 the party gained 50.000 votes (05%), but not a seat in the House of Representatives.
In February 2004 she was nominated to become the party"s lijsttrekker (party leader) for the European Parliament election of 2004.
This time the party gained 153.000 votes (32%), three times as much as in the 2002 Dutch general election. Still the number of votes was not enough to obtain a seat in the European Parliament. In May 2014 the party got 200.254 votes (4,21%) for the European Parliament election of 2014, enough to abtain a seat in the European Parliament.
Not with Marianne Thieme as lijsttrekker (party leader), but Anja Hazekamp.
Marianne Thieme was already elected in the Dutch House of the Representatives. During the Dutch general election of 2006 the Party for Animals gained 179,988 votes (18%), enough for two seats in the Dutch parliament.
The party became the world"s first party to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights. Personal life.
Politics
Political life
In October 2002 she and other animal protectionists founded the Party for Animals (Partij voor de Dieren).