Gabriele Pauli

In 2006 and 2007, Pauli's open criticism of Edmund Stoiber, minister-president of the German state of Bavaria and fellow CSU member, led to a crisis in the party which ultimately resulted in Stoiber’s resignation.

On September 21, 2007, Pauli shocked the Catholic German state by suggesting marriage should expire after seven years, at which time couples could then extend or dissolve the marriage.

She lost a run for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) party in an election won by Erwin Huber by a large margin. Pauli herself received only 2.5% of the votes.

She left the CSU on 21 November 2007. In June 2008 she joined the Freie Wähler Bayern (Independent voters association in Bavaria). She is one of the parties candidates for the Landtag of Bavaria at the parliamentary elections in the German federal state of Bavaria on 28 September 2008.