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Leandra Columberg

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Leandra Columberg
Member of the Cantonal Council of Zürich for Uster
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2019
Member of the
Dübendorf Municipal Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 March 2022
Personal details
Born1999 (1999) (age 24–25)
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Other political
affiliations		Young Socialists Switzerland
Alma materUniversity of Zürich (attending)

Leandra Columberg (born 1999) is a Swiss politician who has served in the Cantonal Council of Zürich since 2019 as a member of the Social Democratic Party. First elected at age 19, she is the youngest cantonal councillor ever elected in Zürich and one of the youngest in all of Switzerland.

Biography

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Leandra Columberg was born in 1999.[1] She was raised in the town of Dübendorf in the Canton of Zürich, and attended high school in the neighboring town of Uster. Columberg was apolitical until age 16 when she studied for a year in the United States, where she was "shocked by Donald Trump's aggressive election campaign" and became opposed to right-wing populism.[2][3] In 2016, she joined the Young Socialists (JUSO) and the Social Democratic Party (SP).[4] A law student at the University of Zürich,[5] Columberg works as a political campaigner for the Zürich SP and is on the board of the national JUSO organization and the SP branch in Dübendorf.[1][6] Since 2018, she has also been the president of the JUSO branch in the Zürcher Oberland.[1]

Columberg was elected to the Cantonal Council of Zürich in the 2019 elections, placing fourth on the SP party list in the Uster constituency.[1][3] Elected at age 19, she is the youngest person ever elected to the cantonal council, and one of the youngest elected in all of Switzerland.[2][7] During her tenure, Columberg has advocated for more protections for LGBT people and for high school preparation courses. She has also pushed for providing free menstrual hygiene products in schools and for masks to be distributed to the people of the canton.[8][9] As a member of the Swiss Union of Public Service Personnel, Columberg sits with the Trade Union Group in the Cantonal Council.[10] In 2022, she was elected with a dual mandate to the Dübendorf Municipal Council.[1][11]

Columberg was re-elected in the 2023 elections, placing second in her constituency.[12] She was a member of the Audit Commission in her first term and is a member of the Justice and Public Safety Commission in her second term.[1] In 2024, Columberg strongly opposed an "anti-chaotic initiative" pushed by the ruling Swiss People's Party in the cantonal council. The bill "demands that demonstrators and organizers have to foot the bill for police operations and damage caused", which Columberg argues could serve as a chilling effect to deter protests and would be "collective punishment".[13][14][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Leandra Columberg". Cantonal Council of Zürich (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b Probst, Joel (19 June 2019). "Leandra Columberg (Juso) ist mit 19 schon Kantonsrätin" [Leandra Columberg (Juso) is Already a Cantonal Councilor at 19]. Blick (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b Riklin, Adrian (13 March 2019). "Mit der S-Bahn ins Parlament" [With the S-Bahn to Parliament]. WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Leandra Columberg". SP Dübendorf (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  5. ^ Mariani, Carlo (12 December 2022). "Das Zürcher Stipendiendebakel" [The Zurich Scholarship Debacle]. Zürcher Studierendenzeitung [de] (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Juso Schweiz beschliessen «kritisches Ja» zum CO2-Gesetz" [Juso Switzerland Decide on a "Critical Yes" to the CO2 Law]. Aargauer Zeitung (in German). 20 February 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  7. ^ "JUSO-Wahlkampf auf dem Bachtelturm" [JUSO Election Campaign on the Bachtelturm]. zuerioberland24.ch (in German). 27 January 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  8. ^ Döbeli, Nicole (31 October 2022). "An vielen Schulen gibt es bereits gratis Tampons und Binden" [Many Schools Already Provide Free Tampons and Pads]. Der Landbote (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  9. ^ Hudec, Jan (17 August 2020). "SP und AL wollen gratis Masken an die Zürcher Bevölkerung abgeben" [SP and AL Want to Give Out Free Masks to the People of Zurich]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Gewerkschaftliche Gruppe im Kantonsrat" [Trade Union Group in the Cantonal Council]. Trade Union Confederation of the Canton of Zurich (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Leandra Columberg". City of Dübendorf (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Kantonsratswahlen: SP Uster hält drei Sitze, Patricia Bernet neu gewählt - SP Uster" [Cantonal Council Elections: SP Uster Holds Three Seats, Patricia Bernet Newly Elected]. SP Uster (in German). 13 February 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  13. ^ Blatter, Lara (15 February 2024). "«Anti-Chaoten-Initiative»: SVP und SP im Streitgespräch" [The 'Anti-Chaotic Initiative' Forces the Police to Undertake Expensive Operations]. Tsüri [de] (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  14. ^ Ehrsam, Thierry (15 February 2024). "Columberg (SP): Anti-Chaoten-Initiative gefährdet Grundrechte" [Columberg (SP): Anti-Chaotic Initiative Endangers Fundamental Rights]. Nau (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  15. ^ "«Anti-Chaoten-Initiative» will Chaoten zur Kasse bitten" ["Anti-Chaotic Initiative" Wants to Make Chaotic People Pay]. Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (in German). 11 February 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.

Further reading

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