Villy Søvndal (born 4 April 1952) is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013. He represented the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) 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. In 2008, Søvndal published an autobiography, Villys verden (Villy's World). Background Villy Søvndal was born on 4 April 1952 in the town of Linde in the municipality of Struer. His father was Peter Søvndal, a smallholder, and his mother was Agnes. He attended Linde Skole from 1959 to 1966 and spent the next three years as a student at Nørreland School in Holstebro, passing the Llower secondary school examination in 1969. He graduated from Nørre Nissum Teacher Training College in 1971, passing the higher preparatory examination, and from 1971 to 1973 attended the now-defunct Vestbirk College of Music. From 1976 to 1980 Søvndal studied to be a teacher at the now-defunct Kolding Teacher Training College. He received a teacher's certificate in 1980, and from 1980 to 1992 worked as a teacher with the Kolding school authority. His own page at the SF party website describes him as having traveled a great deal as a young man, and says that his experiences in South America and Eastern Europe "were – in different ways – instructive in relation to problems of practical socialism". Political career Early politics His first political position was a seat on the Kolding town council, to which he was elected in 1982 and which he retained until 1994, with the exception of two periods (13–28 March 1986; 10 October 1991 – 13 January 1992), during which he was a temporary member of Parliament for Vejle County. In August 1994 Søvndal became a full-time member of Folketinget. He soon became the party's spokesman on social policy and defense issues, for many years was chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs. Party chairman In April 2005, Søvndal was elected to replace Holger