Oskar Lafontaine

Oskar Lafontaine
Lafontaine in 2017
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 16 November 1995 – 12 March 1999
General Secretary	Franz Müntefering Ottmar Schreiner
Preceded by	Rudolf Scharping
Succeeded by	Gerhard Schröder
Leader of The Left
In office 16 June 2007 – 15 May 2010 Serving with Lothar Bisky
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Klaus Ernst
Minister of Finance
In office 27 October 1998 – 18 March 1999
Chancellor	Gerhard Schröder
Preceded by	Theodor Waigel
Succeeded by	Hans Eichel
Minister-President of the Saarland
In office 9 April 1985 – 9 November 1998
Preceded by	Werner Zeyer
Succeeded by	Reinhard Klimmt
President of the Bundesrat
In office 1 November 1992 – 31 October 1993
First Vice President	Berndt Seite
Preceded by	Berndt Seite
Succeeded by	Klaus Wedemeier
Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken
In office 22 January 1976 – 9 April 1985
Preceded by	Fritz Schuster
Succeeded by	Hans-Jürgen Koebnick
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Landtag of Saarland for Saarlouis In office 23 September 2009 – 25 April 2022 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Member of the Bundestag for Saarland (North Rhine-Westphalia; 2005–2009) In office 18 October 2005 – 1 February 2010 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Yvonne Ploetz Member of the Bundestag for Saarbrücken I In office 26 October 1998 – 16 March 1999 Preceded by himself (1994) Succeeded by Gudrun Roos In office 15 November 1994 – 17 November 1994 Preceded by himself (1990)[a] Succeeded by Elke Ferner Member of the Landtag of Saarland for Saarbrücken In office 9 April 1985 – 9 November 1998 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Karin Lawall In office 13 July 1970 – 14 July 1975 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district
Personal details
Born	(1943-09-16) 16 September 1943 (age 80) Saarlautern, Saarland, Nazi Germany (now Saarlouis, Germany)
Political party	Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (2024–present)
Other political affiliations	The Left (2007–2022) Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (2005–2007) Social Democratic Party (1966–2005) Independent (2022–2024)
Spouses	Ingrid Bachert ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1982)​ Margret Müller ​ ​ (m. 1982; div. 1988)​ Christa Müller ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2013)​ Sahra Wagenknecht ​ ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2
Residence	Merzig-Silwingen
Alma mater	Saarland University
Occupation	Politician Publicist Physicist
Website	Official website

Oskar Lafontaine (German pronunciation: [ˈlafɔntɛn]; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candidate for the SPD in the 1990 German federal election, but lost by a wide margin. He served as Minister of Finance under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder after the SPD's victory in the 1998 federal election, but resigned from both the ministry and Bundestag less than six months later, positioning himself as a popular opponent of Schröder's policies in the tabloid press.

In the lead-up to the 2005 federal election, as a reaction to Schröder's Agenda 2010 reforms, Lafontaine co-founded the left-wing party Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative. Following a merger with the Party of Democratic Socialism in June 2007, he became co-chairman of The Left. He was the lead candidate for the Saarland branch of the party in the 2009 Saarland state election where it won over 20% of the vote. He announced his resignation from all federal political functions after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009.^[1] He retained his position as a member of the Saarland legislature, and from May 2012 to 2022, he was the leader of the opposition in Saarland. Lafontaine resigned from the Left Party on 17 March 2022 because it was no longer an "alternative to the politics of social insecurity and inequality," he said.^[2]

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