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The 'Free Hanseatic City of Bremen' (official name in German: ''Freie Hansestadt Bremen'') is the smallest of Germany's 16 Federal States (''Bundesländer''). A more informal name, but used in some official contexts, is ''Land Bremen'' ('State of Bremen').

Contents

Geography

Politics

Political system

May 25, 2003 state elections

2007 state elections

See also

External links

References

Geography

The state of Bremen consists of two separated enclaves: Bremen, officially the 'City' (''Stadtgemeinde Bremen'') which is the state capital, and the city of Bremerhaven (''Stadt Bremerhaven''). Both are located on the River Weser; Bremerhaven is further downstream and serves as a North Sea harbour (the name means "Bremen's port"). Both cities are completely surrounded by the neighbouring State of Lower Saxony (''Niedersachsen''). The two cities are the only administrative subdivisions the state has.

Politics

Political system

The ''Bürgerschaft'' (city assembly) elects two mayors of the city (''Bürgermeister''). One of these is then elected by the senate (which forms the executive branch) as president of the senate (''Senatspräsident'') and is thus head of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

May 25, 2003 state elections

Dr. Henning Scherf (SPD) remained Mayor and Senate President, in a SPD-CDU grand coalition. As promised he resigned after half of the legislative period. The new Mayor and Senate President since 8 November 2005 is Jens Böhrnsen.

Party	Party List votes	Vote percentage	Total Seats	Seat percentage
Social Democratic Party (SPD)	123,480	42.3% (-0,2)	40 (-7)	48.2%
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	86,819	29.8% (-7,2)	29 (-13)	34.9%
Alliance '90/The Greens	37,350	12.8% (+3,8)	12 (+2)	14.5%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)	12,294	4.2% (+1,7)	1 (+1)	1.2%
Deutsche Volksunion (DVU)	6,642	2.3% (-0,7)	1 (=)	1.2%
Law and Order Offensive Party	12,876	4.3% (+4,3)	0 (=)	0.0%
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	4,885	1.7% (-1,2)	0 (=)	0.0%
All Others	7420	2.6% (-0,5)	0 (=)	0.0%
'Totals'	291,766	100.0%	83 (-17)	100.0%

2007 state elections

The 2007 elections were held on 13 May.

Party	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–	%
Social Democratic Party (SPD)		36.8%	–5,5	33	–7	39.8%
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)		25.7%	–4,1	23	–6	27.7%
Alliance '90/The Greens		16.4%	+3,6	14	+2	16.9%
The Left Party.PDS		8.4%	+6,7	7	+7	8.4%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)		6.0%	+1,8	5	+4	6.0%
German People's Union (DVU)		2.7%	+0,4	1	±0	1.2%
Others		4.0%	+1,4	0	±0	0.0%
'Totals'		100.0%		83		100.0%

See also

★ Former countries in Europe after 1815

External links

★ Official state portal

★ Official governmental portal

★ Constitution of the state, German only

References

1. State population