Major Søren Andersen was the conservative mayor of Skive in the years 1998-2001.
Originally from Copenhagen, Andersen moved to Skive when the North Jutland Artillery Regiment moved into Skive Barracks in 1969 due to his position as a major in the army.
As a politician in Skive
He quickly became involved in local politics, and from 1972 he was chairman of the conservative voters’ association in Skive.
Andersen was elected to Skive City Council in 1978, where cooperation within the group was poor. This resulted in another conservative council member and former chairman of the group, Viggo Paaske, resigning from the party.
In the following years, he held positions in several important committees, from his first term as chairman of the harbor committee and later of the planning and building committee.
In the city council elections in 1998, the incumbent Social Democratic mayor Jonna Stavnsbjerg had a bad election. It became obvious that the Social Democrats would not retain the mayoralty. The real choice was between Søren Andersen and the left-wing Peder Christian Kirkegaard. In the subsequent negotiations, Andersen won the post and became the first non-Social Democrat mayor of Skive since 1929. Before the next election, Andersen decided that he did not want to run again.
As a politician on a national level
From 1972 he was chairman of the county organization of the electoral association, and later of the Jutland organization. As chairman of the Conservative People’s Party’s Jutland Association, which made him vice chairman of the party organization.
On a personal level
Andersen has been described as diligent, perfectionist, and as a man who kept to form.
Andersen was married twice, first to Ingelise Andersen (born Karlsen), who died in 1997. Later married to Karen Nørgaard.
Sources
- Archive material Skive Byarkiv
- Mortensen Niels, Skive kommunes historie bind III, Skive Museums Forlag 2003, 415-417
- Former mayor has died: The conservative major became the first bourgeois mayor of Skive in 69 years | Skive Folkeblad