Villy Søvndal

Villy Søvndal is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013. He represented the Socialist People's Party in Parliament (Folketinget) from 1994 to 2013. He was selected as party leader in a 2005 vote, succeeding Holger K. Nielsen. After he assumed this post, support for SF rose steadily in the polls, and in the 2007 parliamentary election the party received more than 13% of the votes, giving it 23 seats. After the election, support for SF continued to increase – up to 17–18% – but in the 2011 parliamentary election the party received only 9% of the vote and dropped down to 16 seats.