{{Short description|Greek politician (born 1945)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Aleka Papariga | native_name = {{Nobold|{{Lang|el|Αλέκα Παπαρήγα}}}} | image = Aleka Papariga 2009 (cropped).jpg | caption = Papariga in 2009 | office = 17th General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece | term_start = 27 February 1991 | term_end = 14 April 2013 | predecessor = Grigoris Farakos | successor = Dimitris Koutsoumpas | office2 = 3rd Leader of the Communist Party Parliamentary Group | term_start2 = 10 October 1993 | term_end2 = 25 January 2015 | predecessor2 = Grigoris Farakos | successor2 = Dimitris Koutsoumpas | office3 = Member of the Hellenic Parliament | constituency3 = Athens B | term_start3 = 10 October 1993 | term_end3 = 22 April 2023 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|11|5|df=y}} | birth_place = Athens, Greece | death_date = | death_place = | party = Communist Party of Greece | relations = | spouse = {{marriage|Thanasis Paparigas||2002|reason=died}} | children = 1 | occupation = {{hlist|Politician|Archaeologist|Historian|Teacher}} | alma_mater = National and Kapodistrian University of Athens | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Alexandra''' "'''Aleka'''" '''Papariga''' ({{née}} '''Drosou'''; {{langx|el|Αλέκα Παπαρήγα}}; born 5 November 1945) is a Greek retired politician who served the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) as its General Secretary from 1991 to 2013. She is the first woman to be General Secretary of KKE, and thus the first woman to head a major political party in Greece.<ref name=CV>[http://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Vouleftes/Viografika-Stoicheia/?MPId=399ca9e7-9c03-477e-9708-b0342e699cd4 CV at Hellenic Parliament website].</ref>
== Early years == Alexandra Drosou (Αλεξάνδρα Δρόσου) was born in Athens in 1945. Her parents, Nikos Drosos and Kiki Drosou were National Resistance fighters and members of Communist Party of Greece (KKE), of Cephalonian origin.
She graduated from the Historical-Archeological Section of the Philosophy Faculty of Athens University and after graduation worked as an employee for eight years in various accounting offices. At the same time, she worked as a private tutor. Since 1976, she has worked exclusively in party and social activities.
== Political career == Papariga started out as an activist in the peace movement in 1961 and soon after joined the pupils' organization of the youth section of the United Democratic Left (EDA).<ref name="ANA-MPA bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.ana-mpa.gr/en/biogr/Papariga.html|title=SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE Alexandra Papariga|work=ANA-MPA|publisher=ana-mpa.gr|accessdate=2009-10-09| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091005054650/http://www.ana-mpa.gr/en/biogr/Papariga.html| archivedate= 5 October 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> She was active in various school and student movements until the military coup in 1967. Throughout this period, she was a member of the Bureau of the EDA youth section pupils' organization and then of the "Lambrakis" Democratic Youth Students’ organization Bureau.
=== Military junta=== She joined KKE in 1968, while it was illegal during the Greek junta<ref name=CV/> and was active in the prisoners' families' movement.
=== Third Hellenic Republic === After the restoration of democracy, she became a member of the Bureau of the City Committee of the Athens Party Organization (KOA), and was also active in the women's movement. A founding member of the Women's Federation of Greece, she participated in the organization of national events for International Women's Day. She was a leading member of the women's movement until 1981, and then active in the Athens Party Organization up to 1991. During her activities in the women's movement, she participated in international congresses of the Women's International Democratic Federation, the United Nations, and many international conferences and symposia.
Papariga has been a member of the Central Committee of KKE since the 10th Congress (May 1978) and of the Politburo of the CC since 1986. On 27 February 1991 at the 13th Party Congress, she was elected as Secretary-General of the KKE. She was unanimously re-elected as Secretary-General on 26 May 1996, at the 15th Party Congress.<ref name=CV/> In February 2009, Papariga was re-elected as Secretary-General at the 18th Party Congress. This re-election made her the longest serving General Secretary of the KKE.<ref name="To Vima 2009-02-24">{{cite news|url=http://www.tovima.gr/default.asp?pid=2&ct=32&artId=256530|script-title=el:Τι σημαίνουν οι αλλαγές στο ΚΚΕ|last=Bitsika|first=Panagiota|date=2009-02-24|work=To Vima|publisher=tovima.gr|language=Greek|accessdate=2009-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225235338/http://www.tovima.gr/default.asp?pid=2&ct=32&artid=256530|archive-date=25 February 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
As a KKE candidate in Athens B constituency, Papariga was elected to the Hellenic Parliament in 1993 election.<ref name=CV/> On 12 January 2023, it was announced that she would not be a parliamentary candidate and that she would retire from politics after the 2023 election.
== Personal life == She married the journalist Thanasis Paparigas, with whom she had a daughter, Vasileia, and another child who died at the age of three. Her husband died on 11 October 2002, after being seriously injured in a car accident.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
== References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Aleka Papariga}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090505162533/http://inter.kke.gr/about/gs-biogr Short biographic note] website of the Communist Party of Greece * {{Hellenic Parliament|399ca9e7-9c03-477e-9708-b0342e699cd4}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Grigoris Farakos}} {{s-ttl|title= General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece|years=1991–2013}} {{s-aft|after=Dimitris Koutsoumpas}} {{s-end}} {{KKE General Secretaries}} {{authority control}} {{Vouli-database}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papariga, Aleka}} Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the Lambrakis Democratic Youth Category:National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Category:Anti-revisionists Category:Greek women writers Category:Communist women writers Category:Socialist feminists Category:General secretaries of the Communist Party of Greece Category:Greek MPs 1993–1996 Category:Greek MPs 1996–2000 Category:Greek MPs 2000–2004 Category:Greek MPs 2004–2007 Category:Greek MPs 2007–2009 Category:Greek MPs 2009–2012 Category:Greek MPs 2012 (May) Category:Greek MPs 2012–2014 Category:Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Category:Greek MPs 2015–2019 Category:20th-century Greek politicians Category:20th-century Greek women politicians Category:21st-century Greek women politicians Category:Politicians from Athens Category:Greek MPs 2019–2023 Category:Women's International Democratic Federation people