Katja Pähle (born 27 June 1977) is a German politician of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
(SPD). Since 2016, she has served as chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group in the
Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt
The Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt is the parliament of the Germany, German States of Germany, federal state Saxony-Anhalt. It convenes in Magdeburg and currently consists of 97 members of six parties. The current majority is a coalition of the Social ...
. She has also been deputy leader of the party's state branch since 2015, and a member of the SPD federal executive since 2017. She was the party's lead candidate for the 2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election.
Early life and career
Pehle grew up in
Hettstedt
Hettstedt is a town in Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on the Wipper. It consists of Hettstedt proper and the ''Ortschaften'' (municipal divisions) Ritterode and Walbeck.Mansfelder Land, and graduated from high school in 1996. She studied sociology and psychology at
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...
, and received her PhD in 2010.
Pähle subsequently worked as a research assistant at the Collaborative Research Center 580 at the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
. From 2008 to 2011 she worked in the State Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
as a personal advisor in the ministerial office.
Political career
Career in state politics
In 1999 Pähle became a member of the SPD. From 2005 to 2013 she was chairwoman of the SPD city association in Halle. From 2004 to 2008 she sat as an expert resident in the social committee of the Halle city council. Since 2008, she has been a member of the SPD state executive.
Pähle was the SPD's candidate for the constituency of Halle II in the
2011 Saxony-Anhalt state election
The 2011 Saxony-Anhalt state election was held on 20 March 2011 to elect the members of the 6th Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. The incumbent grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-Presi ...
. She failed to win the constituency, but was elected via the party list and became a member of the Landtag. In 2015, she became deputy chairwoman of the state party. She was re-elected to the Landtag in the 2016 state election; after Katrin Budde resigned in the face of the party's disastrous result, Pähle became interim party leader. When the new Landtag sat, she was chosen as the new chair of the SPD parliamentary group.
In December 2017, Pähle became a member of the federal SPD executive. Since November 2019 she has served on the party presidium.
On 10 July 2020, Pähle was elected as the party's lead candidate for the 2021 state election. In an election among the party membership, she defeated
political scientist
Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...
Roger Stöcker, winning 834 votes (52.5%) to Stöcker's 652 (41.0%).
Role in national politics
In the negotiations to form a so-called
traffic light coalition
In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...
of the SPD, the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
and the FDP following the 2021 federal elections, Pähle led her party's delegation in the working group on health policy; her co-chairs from the other parties were
Maria Klein-Schmeink
Maria Anna Klein-Schmeink (born 6 January 1958) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2009.
Early life and career
Klein-Schmeink studi ...
Federal Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...
for the purpose of electing the
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...