Karen House

Karen House (born 16 July 1980) is a Marianan politician and the mayor of Palma, the capital city. She has lived all of her life in Palma, studying at Eldridge Primary School and Ambrosian College before going to work at a mobile company store. House has been a member of the SDP since 2014 and was their candidate for mayor of Palma in the 2015 election. In July 2016 she signed up as a candidate for the SDP's leadership, which she failed to win.

House is one of the most outspoken politicians in the party, being a voice for members not in government or congress. Her views and actions have led to some sort of split in the party ranks, between the traditional more moderate base and the radical, alternative leftist views she espouses.

Early life
House was born in Palma to Gerald House and his Romanian wife, the couple's third child. She has stated they were fairly

Mayorship
House stepped up as candidate for the party's mayoral candidate for Palma in May 2015; she was initially written off for having little experience and no tertiary education, but she proved a very good orator, was apt at research and was excellent at debating and arguing, frequently besting her other challengers. While the party in the city was divided over which candidate to select, lack of enough support for one of the three other candidates led them to elect House, as she had no political links to or issues with other factions.

On election day, 30 October 2015, the SDP finished in third place, behind the Green Party of incumbent mayor Ramzi Karimi and the new alternative leftist Avanze. Avanze was a surprise win and the mayorship a major coup for such a new party, but eventually through negotiation the Greens decided to back House for mayor.

Once elected mayor, she embarked on a program that created a city logo and introduced rationed driving days in the downtown core to reduce congestion.

2016
In June 2016 she began to speak out against the EU following the Brexit vote, saying the organization was a < > that could never agree on passing any amount of legislation, easily solvable by the use of bilateral cooperation.

Asked why she has been the first significant person to propose such an exit, she stated that Palma bore most of Mariana's contributions due to being the most populous city, and that said money would be better off being spent towards other urban projects.

House said that she wished to <> and bring more power to party members outside of congress. She stated she would take the party on an anti-EU course, part of her rhetoric in the past month, and definitely push to take Mariana to the forefront of social and environmental advancements.

During the first debate, House was the surprise, not conceding to the other, more experienced candidates. On 15 July, House launched a simple poster advert stating to vote House to beat the House, in reference to the other candidates all members of the House of Representatives, with the hashtag KARENforSDP trending on Twitter in Mariana. Almost immediately the other candidates responded saying that as members of the House they have experience, and former Prime Minister Ines Michels going so far as to say she was <> and not yet experienced to head the party.

A number of party members not in the House responded positively to her campaign, notably Christiane Vanderberg and Giulio Conti, both mayors. House finished in second place and did not win, but was able to place ahead of two experienced politicians.

House became an influence in the run up to the 2016 Marianan general election, as five SDP members seen as part of the pro-House bloc voted against a bill to raise the IVA (the VAT tax) and led to the government forced to call elections.

Controversy
House has become a very controversial politician, particularly among the SDP's leadership for creating division among the ranks. She is particularly outspoken against the traditional leadership and relative insignificance of party members outside of congress. Much of the party's leadership has blamed her for the rise of YES and the alt-left, but House has stated the SDP is about change to keep in tune with voters' needs.

She has also been virulent towards the EU, calling it "an organization that has achieved nothing and has not brought forth that much integration", vis a vis the last few years and the immigration crisis. She caused a commotion amongst her party for speaking out against EC president Jean-Claude Juncker, calling him a "spectacular oaf" and said on RTM that he was "too lame and weak to do anything for the EU". She has also been openly critical of Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen and Sofia Andersen; while all three are anti-EU, she has been critical of most of their viewpoints.

Viewpoints
House has been somewhat critical of the government's plan of bringing Syrian refugees to Mariana; whole stating she feels for their plight she felt it was better to use the money to "improve the welfare of Mariana's lower-income citizens and combat inequality at home" before trying to accommodate refugees at greater cost.

House has stated that Mariana should take more of a stance towards an even better environment-friendly direction, and has worked at least in her government to have Palma on a greener direction.

Personal life
House's father was from Palma and her mother is Romanian. She married Italian writer Angelo Rossi in 2011 and they have a son.