Petra Pau (born 9 August 1963) is a German politician of The Left. She has been a member of the

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 ...

since 1998. Since 2006, she has also served as one of the Vice Presidents of the Bundestag, being the first member of her party to hold this office. Pau belongs to the reform-oriented wing of her party, actively supporting parliamentary representative democracy.

Political career

Pau's first involvement in politics came in 1983 when she joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED), the governing party of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. She worked as a functionary for the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

as a leader of the East German pioneers. After German reunification, the SED became the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and she was elected as a PDS member to the Borough Assembly of

Hellersdorf Hellersdorf () is a locality in the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Between 1986 and Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was a borough in its own right, consisting of the current area of Hellersdorf as well as Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdo ...

in Eastern Berlin in October 1990. She became district chairwoman of the PDS branch in Hellersdorf in October 1991, and was elected chairwoman of the Berlin PDS association in October 1992. From 2000 to 2002, she was deputy chairwoman of the federal party. She was elected to the state parliament of Berlin in 1995, and remained a member until 1998, when she was elected to the Bundestag for the Berlin Mitte – Prenzlauer Berg constituency. Controversial boundary changes abolished this constituency and for the 2002 election, she contested Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf, regarded as a safe seat for the PDS. She was elected for that constituency and became one of only two members of the Bundestag for her party, which fell below the 5%

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

. When the new Left party regained representation in 2005, Pau was also re-elected in Marzahn-Hellersdorf. She retained the constituency in 2009, 2013, and 2017, but was defeated in 2021 by CDU candidate Mario Czaja. She nonetheless re-entered the Bundestag on the Left party list. After the 2005 federal election, the Left group offered

Lothar Bisky Lothar Bisky (17 August 1941 13 August 2013) was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED). In June 2007 he became co-chairman of The Left ...

as their candidate for Vice-President of the Bundestag, but he failed to win a majority after four rounds of voting. They subsequently put forward Pau, who was elected on the first ballot. She has been re-elected as Vice-President in each subsequent term. Since the 2013 term, she has been the longest-serving Vice-President. Speaking of her upbringing, Pau said: "Of course my past is typical for someone who grew up in the GDR. I was a teacher and

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

leader in East Berlin. It is my past which drives me today in my commitment to a democratic society, and I reject any suggestion that this is not the case or even possible." In her capacity as Vice-President, she seeks to be impartial but not

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased pos ...

, and champions civil rights and democracy.

References

Literature

* Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.), ''Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt – Funktion – Person.'' 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007,

External links