Katrin Kunert is a German politician of the Left Party. After working in regional politics, she was a member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2017, effectively by winning a mandate in the 16th, 17th and 18th election.
Kunert was born on 6 April 1964 in Wolmirstedt in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After completing the Polytechnic Secondary School, she trained as a cattle breeder from 1980 to 1982 and then completed a degree in engineering for animal production in Stadtroda.[1] [2]
From 1986 to 1990, Kunert was head of the youth travel agency Jugendtourist in Osterburg before working full-time as the deputy district chairwoman of the PDS in Osterburg. Kunert was an employee of Helga Paschke, member of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt until 2005, when she was elected into the Bundestag.
Kunert joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED) and remained a member, when the SED was succeeded by the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which itself later became the Left Party.
In the 1990s, Kunert was a member of multiple regional governments and party executive boards, such as:
From 2003 to 2006, she was a member of the executive board of the nation-wide Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).[3]
In 2005, Kunert was elected to the Bundestag by being on her party's State List. In 2009, she won a seat by winning the Altmark – 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 the CDU. Nevertheless, she got a seat.
During her time in the Bundestag, Kunert was a member of the Sports Committee and the Defense Committee.[4]
She is not religious and has one son from her marriage.