Lee Weimman
His Excellency Lee Weimman | |
|---|---|
卫满李 | |
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Leader of the Party for the Environment | |
| Assumed office 3 September 2024 Serving with Greg Hamerfell | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Minister for the Environment | |
| In office 24 September 2012 – 20 August 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Su |
| Preceded by | Lai Xin-yi |
| Succeeded by | Gao Jianhong |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 18 June 2023 | |
| Constituency | Shangrao West |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly for Sishui East | |
| In office 10 August 2008 – 18 June 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Wang Zheng |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 March 1981 Söhlde, Kivu |
| Political party | Green Party (2004–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Hong Yu-feng (m. 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Donguan State University (BSc) |
Lee Weimman, also known as Wei-man Li (Monsilvan: 卫满李; born 26 March 1981) is a Kivuian-born Monsilvan politician and leader of the Party for the Environment alongside Greg Hamerfell since 2024. Weimman also served as minister for the environment from 2012 to 2016 in the coalition government of Lee Su. As a member of the Green Party of Monsilva, Weimman has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Shangrao West since 2023, having previously served as MP for Sishui East from 2008 to 2023.
Weimman was born in Söhlde, Kivu in March 1981. He and his family moved to Shangrao, Donguan in 1985, where he grew up and later graduated from Donguan State University. From 2003 to 2008, Weimman worked as a health and safety consultant for charities sending volunteers overseas. In 2004, Weimman joined the Green Party, and in 2006, he became a councillor for Sishui County Council. In 2008, Weimman was selected as the Green Party's candidate for the Sishui East constituency at the 2008 federal election after Wang Zheng announced he would not run. At the election, Weimman was successfully elected as an MP. He continued to serve his constituency until 2023, when he was placed on the ballot for the newly created multi-member Shangrao East constituency, which had engulfed his former constituency. He was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 2023 election.
In August 2024, after the creation of the Ostlandet Parliament, Weimman was nominated to lead the party should it be elected to the new parliament at the 2024 Ostlandet Parliament election. He was nominated by all other Green Party MPs, with no other candidates being nominated. In September 2024, Weimman was announced as the co-leader of the Party for the Environment alongside Gjorkan politician Greg Hamerfell.
Early life and education
Lee Weimman was born on 26 March 1981 in Söhlde, Kivu. He is the son of Pan, a Monsilvan who had immigrated to Kivu in 1965, and Karl, a native Kivuian, Weimman. His younger brother, Jun, was born in 1983. In 1985, Weimman and his family moved to Monsilva to live in Shangrao, where Weimman's mother had been born. Weimman continued his childhood in Shangrao, and attended Donguan State University to study environmental sciences from 1999 to 2002.
From 2003 to 2008, Weimman worked as a health and safety consultant hired by charities who were planning on sending volunteers to dangerous areas of other countries. He has stated that it was thanks to his work in other countries that he realized the impact the environment had on those living in poverty and motivated him to join the Green Party in 2004.
Political career
Weimman joined the Green Party a year after he began working as a consultant. He did not advance his political career significantly until 2006, when he ran to be a councillor for the Sishui County Council. To his surprise, he was successfully elected, and began his career as a politician. In 2008, Weimman decided to resign from his consultant job and as a councillor in an attempt to run in the 2008 federal election.
He was selected as the Green Party candidate for Sishui East constituency after their current MP, Wang Zheng, announced he did not want to run again. He was successfully elected to the Legislative Assembly and continued to represent his constituency at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 federal elections. In 2023, after the Electoral Reform Act's passing, Weimman was moved to a party-list for the new multi-member Shangrao East constituency. He was successfully re-elected to the Legislative Assembly, continuing his parliamentary career.
Parliamentary career
Early on in his parliamentary career, although Weimman was not particularly active, he was a member of the assembly's climate committee and foreign affairs committee. He also strongly supported the Open Military Service Act 2008, Anti-Discrimination Act 2011 and the Same-sex Marriage Act 2015. During his early career he gained a reputation amongst his party members as particularly knowledgeable on climate engineering and green energy production overseas. This reputation led to his appointment as minister for the environment in FDP prime minister Lee Su's new coalition government.
As minister for the environment, Weimman brought attention to innovations in cheaper renewable energy options, such as cheaper wind turbines and more opportunities to construct dams thanks to more advanced infrastructure capabilities. During his tenure as minister, he oversaw the construction of the Meixian Offshore Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms in the world. Weimman was returned to the backbench upon Lee Su's loss to the RNP at the 2016 federal election.
In August 2024, Weimman was nominated to serve as the leader of the Green Party in the newly created Ostlandet Parliament, should the party win any seats. After this announcement, he was appointed as a leader of the Party for the Environment, which includes green parties from across Ostlandet to be represented in the Ostlandet Parliament. He leads the party alongside Gjorkan Green Party politician, Greg Hamerfell.
Personal life
Weimman has been married to fellow Green Party politician Hong Yu-feng since 2015. Weimman and Hong met in 2005 through mutual friends whilst on a hiking trip in Nantou. They married two days after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Monsilva. They have a single adopted son, who was born in 2009 and adopted by the couple in 2010. Encouraged by his political career, Weimman's husband ran for the Donguan State Parliament in 2013, and was successful. He was re-elected in 2017, 2021 and 2023.
