Nicole Ruiz

Nicole Andrea Manuela Ruiz (born 1946) is a Baltic politician who served as the 16th President of Balta from 1999 to 2006. Ruiz was the 14th Vice President of Balta from 1990 to 1994 and then again from 1998 to 1999. Ruiz ascended to the presidency in 1999 after the death of George Fleming.

Ruiz was a senator from Lithuania's 7th district from 1982 to 1999, and became Leader of the Social Democrat in 1986. She was the Minister of Culture from 1986 to 1990 in the Soto-Fleming ministry.

In 1990, Ruiz was elected Vice President for the first time. She was re-elected in 1992, but the DPP and SDP lost their coalition in 1994. In 1998, the DPP and SDP regained their majority, and Ruiz was re-elected as Vice President.

DPP President George Fleming was inaugurated on September 1, 1998. He was assassinated on May 7, 1999. Nicole Ruiz, the Vice President at the time, immediately ascended to the presidency.

Ruiz served out Fleming's term until 2002, when was was first elected President in her own right. She was constitutionally eligible to run for President in 2006 (she had not served two full terms), but did not do so.

Ruiz was the third female Vice President, after Martha Ramsay and Patricia Newman, and the third female President, after Martha Ramsay and Jane Soto. She was the fourth Social Democrat President.

Ruiz was born in Balta; her mother was born in Mexico and her father was also born in Balta. This makes Ruiz the first President of Latin American descent.