The Left (Germany)

The Left (German: Die Linke), also commonly referred to as the Left Party (German: Linkspartei), is a democratic socialistpolitical party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG).

Since mid-2012, its co-chairs have been Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger. In the Bundestag the party has 64 out of 630 seats after polling 8.6% of the vote in the 2013 federal elections. Its parliamentary group is therefore the third largest among the four groups in the German Bundestag, and the leading opposition group. The Left is a founder member of the Party of the European Left, and is the largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the European Parliament.

The party is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag, and has been called far-left by German government authorities and different international media. Some of its internal factions are under observation by some states' or the federal Verfassungsschutz (constitutional protection) authorities on account of suspected extremist tendencies. In Bavaria, the entire party is under surveillance.

Left Party

There are several socialist political parties with the name Left Party:

See also

Left Party (Hungary)

The Left Party (Hungarian: A BAL - Balpárt), is a left-wing socialist political party in Hungary. It is led by Ádám Galba-Deák. It was formed at a meeting in March 2014. It draws its membership from different civil society organizations as well as former members of the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Green Left.

Aims

The aim is to build an independent leftist political force in Hungarian politics, based upon social solidarity and following the examples of different leftist parties elsewhere in Europe, such as SYRIZA in Greece and Die Linke in Germany. The founding statements refer to the Left Party playing an important role in an 'ethical renewal' which is needed in Hungary in the next few years.

References

Left Party (Sweden)

The Left Party (Swedish: Vänsterpartiet, V) is a socialist and feministpolitical party in Sweden, founded in 1917 following a split from the Swedish Social Democratic Party. The party has had many names throughout its history. In 1917 the party's name was Swedish Social Democratic Left Party (Swedish: Sveriges socialdemokratiska vänsterparti, SSV). It became the Communist Party of Sweden in 1921, the Left Party-Communists in 1967, and adopted its current name in 1990.

On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations. Moreover, the party was against accession to the European Union and still wants Sweden to leave the European Union, advocates increased public expenditure, and attempted to get Sweden to join the Non-Aligned Movement in 1980, but it did not succeed.

From 1998 to 2006, the Left Party was in an arrangement with the ruling Social Democrats and the Greens. Until then it also supported the Social Democratic minority government in the Swedish parliament, as well as in many of Sweden's counties and municipalities.

Germany

Coordinates: 51°N 9°E / 51°N 9°E / 51; 9

Germany (/ˈdʒɜːrməni/; German: Deutschland [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland,  listen ), is a federal parliamentary republic in West-Central Europe. It includes 16 constituent states and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. With about 81.5 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular migration destination in the world.

Various Germanic tribes have occupied northern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation.

West Germany

West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland or BRD) in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. This period is referred to as the Bonn Republic (German: Bonner Republik) by academic historians, an earlier term being the Bonn State (German: Bonner Staat).

During this period NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border. After 1961, West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states, became known simply as "Germany".

The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France (the "Western Zones"). Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990. The city of Bonn was its de facto capital city (Berlin was symbolically named the de jure capital city in the West German Basic Law). The fourth Allied occupation zone (the East Zone, or Ostzone) was held by the Soviet Union. The parts of this zone lying east of the Oder-Neisse were in fact annexed by the Soviet Union and communist Poland; the remaining central part around Berlin became the communist German Democratic Republic (abbreviated GDR; in German Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR) with its de facto capital in East Berlin. As a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic.

Germany (disambiguation)

Germany (officially the Federal Republic of Germany) is a European country.

Germany may also refer to:

Other political entities:

People: