Harald Ringstorff

Harald Ringstorff
Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office 3 November 1998 – 6 October 2008
Preceded by	Bernd Seite
Succeeded by	Erwin Sellering
Minister of Justice of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office 3 November 1998 – 19 September 2000
Prime Minister	Harald Ringstorff
Preceded by	Rolf Eggert
Succeeded by	Erwin Sellering
Minister of Economics and Affairs of European Union of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office 8 December 1994 – 6 May 1996
Prime Minister	Bernd Seite
Preceded by	Herbert Helmrich (Affairs of European Union) Conrad-Michael Lehment (Economics)
Succeeded by	Rolf Eggert (Affairs of European Union) Jürgen Seidel (Economics)
Vice Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In office 8 December 1994 – 6 May 1996
Prime Minister	Bernd Seite
Preceded by	Klaus Gollert
Succeeded by	Hinrich Kuessner
President of Federal Council
In office 1. November 2006 – 31. Oktober 2007
President	Horst Köhler
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Peter Harry Carstensen
Succeeded by	Ole von Beust
Member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 1990
Prime Minister	Alfred Gmolka (1990-1992) Bernd Seite (1992-1998) Harald Ringstorff (1998-2008) Erwin Sellering (ab 2008)
Member of Volkskammer
In office 18 March 1990 – 2 October 1990
President	Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (acting since 6 April 1990)
Prime Minister	Hans Modrow Lothar de Maizière (since 12 April 2010)
Personal details
Born	25 September 1939 Wittenburg, East Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	SPD

Harald Ringstorff in April 2008

Dr. Harald Ringstorff (born September 25, 1939 in Wittenburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was minister-president of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He has been heading a coalition government of SPD and PDS (now Left Party) from 1998 until 2006, and since then was heading a coalition between SPD and CDU. He was the President of the German Bundesrat, serving for the term 2006/07.

After his Abitur and military service, Ringstorff studied Chemistry at the University of Rostock. He received his Ph.D. in 1969. Afterwards he worked as a chemist for the Rostock dockyards. From 1987 to 1990 he was director of the branch office of the VEB Kali-Chemie ("people's enterprise for potash chemistry").

In 1989 Ringstorff was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR and a member of the freely elected Volkskammer of 1990. From 1990 to 2003 he was chairman of the SPD in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Since 1990 Ringstorff has been a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where he served as parliamentary leader of the SPD from 1990-1994 and 1996-1998. In between he was Minister for Economic and European Affairs and vice-minister-president in a coalition government with the CDU under minister-president Berndt Seite (CDU).

In 1998, the SPD agreed to form a coalition with the PDS (now Left Party), a move controversial within the party. Ringstorff was elected minister-president. His coalition government was re-elected in 2002. After the elections of 2006, he decided to switch to a coalition with the CDU, which would have a more comfortable majority in parliament.