Jan Simonsen
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Jan Simonsen (born March 3, 1953 in Stavanger, Norway) was a member of the Norwegian parliament until 2005.[1] He was elected with the Progress Party, but was later expelled. He is now the vice-secretary of the Democrats, a far-right party.
[edit] Life
Simonsen is not married. He has studied social science at Rogaland DH and has a minor in history. He has been editor for the magazines "Strandbuen", "Video- og TV-guiden" and "Fremskritt". He has been secretary of the parliament group of the Progress Party, member of Stavanger city council, the chairman of the Stavanger Progress Party, member of the main board of the Progress Party, and chairman of Rogaland Progression Party's Youth. He was a board member of Oslo Kinomatografer (Oslo Cinema) 1987-93, administrative deputy chairman of the Progress Party 1991-93, deputy member of the Parliament 1981-85, and deputy chairman of the church and education committee of the parliament 1989-93.
On October 19, 2001, the Rogaland county division of the Progress Party expelled Simonsen from the party after 25 years as a member. The same day, the party's secretary-general Carl I. Hagen made the statement to the Norwegian news broadcast NTB that "the Progress Party has, after a complete evaluation, decided that it is best for both parties to leave each other". In 2003, he congratulated Israel, of which he is a staunch supporter, for the assassination of Ahmed Yassin[2] and Russia for the liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov.[3]
