Paul Bachmeier
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Paul Bachmeier | |
|---|---|
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| Vice Chancellor of Vierzland | |
| Assumed office 16 February 2012 | |
| Chancellor | Kaspar Vahl |
| Preceded by | Fabian Stemmler |
| Deputy Chairman of the National Democratic Party | |
| Assumed office 2 December 2011 | |
| Leader | Kaspar Vahl |
| Preceded by | Tilman Kohl |
| Member of the Federal Assembly from Rastede's 4th district | |
| Assumed office 13 July 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Otto Bleich |
| Representative of Rastede to the National Assembly | |
| In office 14 March 1990 – 4 January 1992 | |
| Preceded by | None (office created) |
| Succeeded by | None (office abolished) |
| Mayor of Gidenburg | |
| In office 3 April 1984 – 13 January 1986 | |
| Preceded by | Helge Nemetz |
| Succeeded by | Otto Abicht |
| In office 24 April 1986 – 5 April 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Otto Abicht |
| Succeeded by | Jacob Baumer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Josef Bachmeier 14 August 1948 Belzig, Rastede, Vierz Empire |
| Political party | Independent (1984–1990; 1999) United Republicans (1990–1999) National Democratic Party (2000–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Sophie Biel (1974–1983) Kathrin Bachmeier (1995-present) |
| Alma mater | Imperial University of Gidenburg Adtrüs School of Economics |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Vierz Empire |
| Branch/service | Imperial Vierz Army Imperial Security Service |
| Years of service | 1967-70 (Army) 1970-75 (KSD) |
| Rank | |
| Unit |
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Paul Josef Bachmeier (born 14 August 1948) is a Vierz politician who has been the Vice Chancellor of Vierzland since February 2012. He was the Mayor of Gidenburg from 1984 to 1992, and has been serving as a member of the Federal Assembly from Rastede's 4th district since 1997. He was made deputy chairman of the National Democratic Party in 2011.
Bachmeier was born in 1948 to a lower-middle class family in Belzig, Rastede. He has conscripted into the Imperial Vierz Army in 1967 at 18 years of age. He served in the army for 3 years, briefly seeing combat in Caraq, until he was transferred to the Imperial Security Service. He left the military in 1975 and studied at the Imperial University of Gidenburg. He graduated in 1980 and attained his master's degree in economics from the Adtrüs School of Economics in 1983. In 1984, at age 35, Bachmeier successfully ran for mayor in Gidenburg, the youngest person ever elected to that position. He quickly gained national attention for his outspoken criticism of the Vierz military intervention in Luepola, drawing the ire of Kaiser Viktor IV and the military government in power. In January 1986, he was dismissed as mayor by the imperial government, sparking mass outrage that culminated in the 1986 Vierz protests demanding his reinstatement. He was reinstated as mayor in April 1986. In 1988, he was reelected mayor with a record 76.3% of the vote.
During his mayoral term, Bachmeier was elected as one of Rastede's representatives to the newly-formed National Assembly in 1990 as a member of the United Republicans. He worked closely with then-chancellor Heinrich Werner to author the new constitution, arguing strongly for republicanism and deimperialization. With the National Assembly's dissolving and the end of his second mayoral term in 1992, Bachmeier refused to participate in the 1992 elections, citing frustrations with politics as a reason to temporarily retire. Despite this, he campaigned for various UR candidates across Rastede until his reentry into national politics in 2000. He left the UR during the Higmon Affair and joined the National Democratic Party, successfully running for representative of Rastede's 4th district in the Federal Assembly in the 2000 elections. He became deputy chairman of the NDP in 2011, and was made Vice Chancellor after the 2012 elections, with NDP chairman Kaspar Vahl elected Chancellor.
Bachmeier's reputation of bluntly criticizing his political opponents via mass media made him a national icon in the 1990s. He is referred to as "Der Einzelgänger" ("The Maverick") for his practice of breaking with his political caucus and criticizing party leaders. From 2001 to 2006, Bachmeier held the highest approval rating of any Vierz politician, peaking at 80.7% among his constituents. In his tenure in the Federal Assembly, he has pushed for policies decreasing income taxes, increasing funding for the Wehrmacht, pushing nuclear power projects, and maintaining socially conservative laws in regards to limits on abortion, LGBT rights, and euthanasia.
He was reelected Vice Chancellor in 2017. In 2018, he announced that he will step down before the 2022 elections.