Katrin Kunert is a German politician of theLeft Party. After working in regional politics, she was a member of theBundestag from 2005 to 2017, effectively by winning a mandate in the16th,17th and18th election.
Kunert was born on 6 April 1964 inWolmirstedt in theGerman Democratic Republic (East Germany). After completing thePolytechnic Secondary School, she trained as acattle breeder from 1980 to 1982 and then completed a degree inengineering for animal production inStadtroda.[1][2]
From 1986 to 1990, Kunert was head of the youth travel agencyJugendtourist inOsterburg before working full-time as the deputy district chairwoman of the PDS in Osterburg. Kunert was an employee ofHelga Paschke, member of the state parliament ofSaxony-Anhalt until 2005, when she was elected into the Bundestag.[2]
Kunert joined theSocialist Unity Party (SED) and remained a member, when the SED was succeeded by theParty of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which itself later became the Left Party.[2]
In the 1990s, Kunert was a member of multiple regional governments and party executive boards, such as:[2]
From 2003 to 2006, she was a member of the executive board of the nationwideParty of Democratic Socialism (PDS).[Note 1][1][2]
In 2005, Kunert was elected to the Bundestag by being on her party'sState List. In 2009, she won a seat by winning theAltmark – Jerichower Land electoral district with 33.4% of the votes. She ran again for that constituency in 2013 but scored second place, behind Körg Hellmuth of theCDU. Nevertheless, she got a seat.
During her time in the Bundestag, Kunert was a member of the Sports Committee and the Defense Committee.[3][1]
She is not religious and has one son from her marriage.[1]