DIE LINKE / THE LEFT

The “Left Party” (Die Linke) was founded in 2007 as merger of the primarily East German “Party of Democratic Socialism” (PDS) and the West German “Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Justice” (WASG). In the federal election of September 2013, it became the third strongest party, winning 8.6% of the popular vote and 64 seats (67 in 2017) in the German Bundestag (36 women and 28 men). The co-chairs of the Left Party’s parliamentary group are Dietmar Bartsch, and Sahra Wagenknecht. The party’s current presidents are Katja Kipping, and Bernd Riexinger.

In the European Parliament, the Left Party’s seven members are part of the “Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left” (GUE/NGL).