Vaira Vike-Freiberga
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (born December 1, 1937 in Riga, Latvia) is the current president of Latvia. She was elected president in 1999 and reelected in 2003.
Biography
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga's parents were World War II refugees. They left Latvia in 1944 and lived in several countries: Germany, Morocco and Canada. She studied at the University of Toronto at Mississauga and McGill University, receiving a Ph.D. in psychology in 1965. She then worked as a professor of psychology at University of Montreal from 1965 to 1998. During this period, she served as the Vice-Chair of the Science Council of Canada and the president of several professional organizations in social sciences. She was also active in the Latvian community in Canada. A large part of her research focused on Latvian folk literature.
In 1998, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga returned to Latvia to lead the Institute of Latvia, an organization devoted to promoting Latvia abroad. A year later, in June 1999, she was elected the president of Latvia. She was originally not a candidate but the Latvian parliament failed to elect a president in the first round. Then, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was chosen as a compromise candidate, as a highly respected person not affiliated with any of the political parties in the parliament.
Throughout her two presidential terms, she has been very popular among Latvians, with her approval rating ranging between 70% and 85%. She has been most active in foreign policy. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is known for outspoken criticism of Russia and active pursuit of Latvia's membership in NATO and EU (Latvia joined both organizations in 2004). She was also a strong supporter of US-led war on Iraq in 2003. On various occasions, she expressed a strong anti-Russian sentiment. She demanded that Russia apologize for what was termed "the occupation by the Soviet Union".
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is married to Imants Freibergs, a professor of computer science at Université du Québec à Montréal, who is currently the president of Latvian Information Technology and Telecommunications Assocation (LITTA). They have two children: Karlis and Indra.
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| Preceded by: Guntis Ulmanis |
President of Latvia | Succeeded by: none (current president) |