Christian Leye (born 6 April 1981) is a German politician (

BSW BSW may refer to: *Bachelor of Social Work, an academic qualification at some institutions *Bally Sports West, American regional sports network owned and operated by Bally Sports * Batesville Southwestern Railroad, Mississippi, United States *Beth ...

, formerly

Die Linke Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...

). He was a

Member of the German Bundestag Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...

for

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

from 2021 to 2025.

Career

Born in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

, Leye has been the state chairman of

since 2016. He contested Duisburg II at the 2021 federal election. He won a seat on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

. Leye founded the pre-association for the new party of

Sahra Wagenknecht Sahra Wagenknecht (; 16 July 1969) is a German politician. She was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2025, where she represented The Left until 2023. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team ...

BSW. On a press-conference on 23 October 2023 he announced that he will leave The Left and join

Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice ( , BSW) is a political party in Germany founded on 8 January 2024. It has been described as a left-wing to far-left party with populist and nationalist tendencies. The BSW is sceptical of g ...

References

Living people 1981 births Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke University of Göttingen alumni Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Politicians from Bochum Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht politicians {{Germany-Left-politician-stub