Annise Parker - The 2014 Top 10 Mayors of the World

The list of top 10 mayors of the the world has been announced by The City Mayors Foundation. The award, officially known as the “World Mayor Prize”, aims to promote and encourage good local governments around the world.

Here is the list of top 10 mayors in 2014:

1. Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary, Canada

Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary, Canada
Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary, Canada

Naheed Nenshi has been mayor of Calgary since 2010. He was elected for a second three-year term in 2013. He is the first Muslim mayor of a major North
American city.

Mayor Nenshi was born in 1972 in Toronto. He received a degree in commerce from the University of Calgary and has a master degree in public policy from Harvard University.

After contesting for a city council place unsuccessfully in 2004, Naheed Nenshi sought the mayoralty in 2010. Very much an ‘outside’ candidate he prevailed with 39 per cent of votes cast. His 2010 victory was seen as a breakthrough in the use of social media in mainstream electoral contests. He was re-elected in 2013 with 73 per cent of the vote.

2. Daniël Termont, Mayor of Ghent, Belgium

2. Daniël Termont, Mayor of Ghent, Belgium
2. Daniël Termont, Mayor of Ghent, Belgium

Daniël Termont has been the mayor of Ghent, Belgium since 2007. He was deputy mayor from 1995 -2006 and has been a member of the city council since 1977. First elected as mayor in 2006 he secured re-election in 2012.

Mayor Termont was born in 1953 in Ghent. He has a degree in accounting from the Stedelijk Instituut voor Handel und Secretariat. Since his early adulthood, Daniël Termont has been an active member of Belgium’s trade union movement and a member of the Flemish Socialist Party sp.a in its various forms.

3. Tri Rismaharini (Risma), Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia

Tri Rismaharini (Risma), Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia
Tri Rismaharini (Risma), Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia

Tri Rismaharini has been mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia since 2010. She is the first woman to be mayor of the city.

Mayor Rismaharini was born in 1961 in East Java. She has degrees in engineering and architecture from the Sepulal Nopember Technical Institute in Surabaya. She is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle.

After graduation she worked in East Java as a civil servant before moving to Surabaya. She subsequently worked for the Surabaya City Council for 20 years – until her election as mayor as head of planning. During this time she led the implementation of the first electronic procurement system in the country.

4. Carlos Ocariz, Sucre, Venezuela

Carlos Ocariz, Sucre, Venezuela
Carlos Ocariz, Sucre, Venezuela

Carlos Ocariz has been the mayor of Sucre, one of the five cities, which make up metropolitan Caracas, since 2008. He shocked the late President Chavez by winning in Sucre, a city, which includes the barrio of Petare, the largest slum settlement in the country. Mayor Ocariz is a member of the Justice First party. He was re-elected in 2013 for a second successive term when he secured 55 per cent of votes.

During his first term, violent crime was reduced by an annual average of 10 per cent. The mayor re-organised the police force and modernised the approach to combating crime. He has also implemented an initiative to enable more residents to own their own homes. Whilst there has been co-operation with national government on crime fighting there is none on home ownership on which there is an ideological divide between the left-wing government and the centre-right opposition parties.

5. Jed Patrick Mabilog, Mayor of Iloilo City, Philippines

Jed Patrick Mabilog, Mayor of Iloilo City, Philippines
Jed Patrick Mabilog, Mayor of Iloilo City, Philippines

Jed Patrick Mabilog has been mayor of Iloilo City in the Phillippines since 2010. He was elected for his first three-year term after serving as Vice Mayor from 2007 to 2010. He was re-elected Mayor in May 2013 with 65 per cent of votes.

Mayor Mabilog was born in 1959. He graduated in biological sciences from West Visayas State University and has a master degree in public management from Ateneo de Manila University. Subsequently he was awarded a doctorate in human resource management from Visayas University in Cebu City.

6. Albrecht Schröter, Mayor of Jena, Germany

Albrecht Schröter, Mayor of Jena, Germany
Albrecht Schröter, Mayor of Jena, Germany

Albrecht Schröter became mayor of Jena in the German state of Thuringia in 2006. After losing the 2000 mayoral election in the city, Schröter stood again in 2006, an election which he won in the second round with 54 per cent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2012 when he secured 73 per cent.

Mayor Schröter was born in 1955 in Halle in the then German Democratic Republic (GDR). He has lived in Jena since 1984 when he became a pastor in the city. Previously he graduated in theology at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenburg. After the collapse of the communist GDR he was briefly a member of Democracy Awake before joining Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party.

7. Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, USA

Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, USA
Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, USA

Annise Parker has been the mayor of Houston, the fourth largest city in the USA, since the beginning of 2010. She has won elections to the post three times. Her 2009 victory led to nation-wide celebrations as she was the first openly gay politician to win the leadership in such a large US city. In her two re-election campaigns in 2011 and 2013, Annise Parker won in the first round by securing more than 50 per cent of the votes.

Annise Parker was a city council member for six years from 1997 after a decade in which she had been involved in civic and political activity in Houston. In 2003 she was elected to the post of city controller, the second most important position in city governance in Houston. She was re-elected unopposed to this role twice before deciding to seek the mayoralty in 2009. She is a member of the Democratic Party but promotes a non-partisan approach to running the city.

8. Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece

Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece
Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece

Yiannis Boutaris has been the mayor of Thessaloniki in Greece since January 2011. He was elected for a second term, with 58 per cent of votes, in May 2014. He stood as an Independent candidate, though with the backing of the Socialist Party.

Yiannis Boutaris is a business owner. He founded the Kir-Yianni wine company in 1998 after working in the family owned Boutaris winery from 1969 until 1996.

Born in 1942 he has degrees in oenology from the Athens Wine Institute and in chemistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Praised by European institutions for his policies and attitudes during the crisis years between 2010 and 2012 the mayor has reduced the number of city council departments and staff and brought the budget under control whilst protecting important services. He has set a timetable for phased reductions in local taxes. Despite threats by members and supporters of the far right Golden Dawn, Yiannis Boutaris has promoted ethnic and religious inclusivity by, for instance, reaching out to Jewish people and across borders to communities in neighbouring countries.

9. Giusi Nicolini, Mayor of Lampedusa, Italy

Giusi Nicolini, Mayor of Lampedusa, Italy
Giusi Nicolini, Mayor of Lampedusa, Italy

Giuseppina Nicolini has been the mayor of Lampedusa and Linosa, Italy, since May 2012. She was elected after defeating four other candidates including the incumbent mayor. In the past, she had served as deputy mayor, to which she was first elected at age 23.

Despite only leading a small community of two islands, Mayor Nicolini has become internationally known because of the large number of migrants arriving from North Africa and the Middle East. The population of the Sicilian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa is usually between 6,000 and 7,000. The total has been increased by large numbers of refugees arriving, many narrowly escaping drowning and traumatised. After the maritime disaster in October 2013, which finally triggered international attention, hundreds of recovered bodies were taken to Lampedusa.

10. Aziz Kocaoglu, Mayor of Izmir, Turkey

Aziz Kocaoglu, Mayor of Izmir, Turkey
Aziz Kocaoglu, Mayor of Izmir, Turkey

Aziz Kocaoglu has been the mayor of Izmir in Turkey since 2004 when he was chosen by colleagues on the Metropolitan Municipality to replace Ahmed Piristina, who had died suddenly. Mayor Kocaoglu was re-elected by popular vote in 2009 with 57 per cent of the votes. He was elected for a third term in 2014.

For much of this period Aziz Kocaoglu has also been mayor of the lower tier authority of Bornova. He is a member of the social democrat leaning secular Republican People’s Party. Throughout his period in office, the national government has been run by the AKP, Islamist Justice and Development Party. The governing party has made life difficult for Mayor Kocaoglu on several occasions notably through launching criminal investigations. None of these have ever led to any convictions.

By Postober Staff

Postober Staff brings you interesting and viral stories from a wide range of industries from the English speaking world.

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