Party of the Besmenian Left

Party of the Besmenian Left Partei der Besmenischen Linken
Chairperson	Petra Wachsmuth
Secretary-General	Georg Winkler
Founded	August 15, 1998 (1998-08-15)
Split from	SDU
Headquarters	Eisenstraße 73, Laitstadt, Besmenia
Ideology	Democratic socialism Left-wing populism Pacifism Anti-capitalism Antimilitarism Feminism
Political position	Left-wing to far-left
Colors	Red
Federal Chamber	45 / 442
Federal Senate	1 / 64
Seats in states parliaments	109 / 1,488

The Party of the Besmenian Left (Besmenian: Partei der Besmenischen Linken) is a democratic-socialism and left-wing party in Besmenia.

The PBL was formed in January 1998 initially primarily from critical SDU members and opponents of the more conservative-leaning SDU chairman Rudolf Dietrich who had formed the association Wahlalternative der Besmenischen Linken (WABL) and constituted itself as a political party on August 15, 1998. While the PBL was described as a protest party with the aim of making an alternative to the SDU in its early years, a regular electorate increasingly formed from the 2000s onwards.

The PBL has had uninterrupted representation in the Federal Chamber since 2001 and has been involved as a junior partner in the Trissian state government alongside the SDU and GPB since 2013.

Ideology and policies

Federal states in which the PBL,
  is a junior partner in the state government.
  is in the opposition.
  is not represented in the state chamber.

Foreign policy and defense policy

The PBL calls for a disarmament policy. The party wants to achieve stability and peaceful cooperation through social justice, the realization of human rights, sustainable development and democracy. Missions of the Besmenian Federal Army abroad are generally rejected. The party strongly criticized Besmenia's involvement in the Second War in Vulkaria in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and urged the federal government to withdraw Besmenian soldiers from Vulkaria.

Family policy

In the area of family policy, the PBL deals in particular with gender equality. To this end, it is striving for an additional equality law for the private sector. Special programs to promote women are also to be introduced. The PBL criticizes the unequal pay of the work of both sexes. The reconciliation of family and career is to be improved through the expansion of all-day facilities. The PBL wants to make it easier for couples to raise children – no matter what type of relationship they live in together. The party strongly advocates marriage for same-sex couples.

Transport policy

The PBL is committed to free public transport throughout Besmenia.

History

Founding

Hannes Hochstein (1941-2014), co-founder and first chairperson of the PBL from 1998 to 2004.

The party emerged from the association Wahlalternative der Besmenische Linken (WABL), which was founded on January 11, 1998. The WABL emerged from the coming together of groups that had their origins in left-wing social democracy. At the end of June 1998 a decision was made in Berkafurt about founding a party. Several members of the provisional federal executive board had declared that they were striving to found such a party and that they wanted to stand in the next Federal Chamber election. As a new left-wing party, the party wanted to offer dissatisfied voters and non-voters an election alternative. In July 1998 a ballot was held on the planned founding of the party, with most members approving. Finally, on August 15, 1998, the party was officially founded in Freiz under the name Party of the Besmenian Left. At the same time, former SDU politician Hannes Hochstein was elected the first party leader of the PBL.

Since 2022

In March 2022, Eckwach announced that he wanted to resign as PBL chairwoman for private reasons. At the PBL party congress in Könlenz on May 28, 2022, the previous chairwoman of PBL Neidenstein-Sulzburg Petra Wachsmuth was elected the new PBL chairperson.

Chairpersons of the PBL

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Tenure (Years and days)	State	Prime Minister
1		Hannes Hochstein (1941–2014)	15 August 1998	21 September 2004	6 years, 37 days	Summingia	Erik Tautenbach Ursula Kummstein
2	File:Erik Schwan.jpg	Erik Schwan (1959–)	21 September 2004	7 December 2009	5 years, 77 days	Maurenmark	Ursula Kummstein
3	File:Anton Pohl.jpg	Anton Pohl (1964-)	7 December 2009	6 October 2011	1 year, 303 days	Metakumburg	Ursula Kummstein Jörg Rautenberg
4		Sandra Eckwach (1966–)	6 October 2011	28 May 2022	10 years, 234 days	Laitstadt	Jörg Rautenberg Theodor Sidemann Richard Benkel Elisabeth Rademacher
5		Petra Wachsmuth (1982–)	28 May 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 186 days	Neidenstein-Sulzburg	Elisabeth Rademacher

Election results

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Federal Chamber

Election	Prime Minister Candidate	Votes in %	Seats	Government
2001	Hannes Hochstein	5,3% (#6)	24 / 427	Opposition
2005	Erik Schwan	5,8% (#6)	25 / 427	Opposition
2009	Erik Schwan	8,9% (#6)	39 / 427	Opposition
2012	Sandra Eckwach	7,3% (#6)	32 / 427	Opposition
2016	Sandra Eckwach	8% (#5)	36 / 427	Opposition
2020	Sandra Eckwach	9% (#5)	40 / 427	Opposition
2021	Sandra Eckwach	10,1% (#5)	45 / 427	Opposition

President

Election	Candidate	First round result		Second round result
		Votes in %	Result	Votes in %	Result
2003	No candidate
2009	No candidate
2009	No candidate
2021	Wilfried Wetzstein	4,2%	5th place