The Left (Germany)

The Left (Die Linke), also commonly referred to as the Left Party (Linkspartei), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag.

The party was founded on 16 June 2007 as the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)—the successor of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (the ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) until 1989)—and the Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG). While the PDS was considered by German authorities as partly extremist, the WASG was not considered extremist. Its co-chairs are Klaus Ernst and Gesine Lötzsch. In the Bundestag the party has 76 out of 622 seats after polling 11.9% of the vote in the 2009 federal elections. Internationally, The Left is a member of the Party of the European Left and is the largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left grouping in the European Parliament.

According to official party figures, the Left Party had 77,645 registered members as of September 2009, making it the fourth-largest party in Germany.

Левые (Германия)