The Hamburg Parliament (; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry” or, more poetically, “Hamburgish Burgessry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2025 there are 121 sitting members, representing 17 electoral districts. The parliament is situated in the city hall Hamburg Rathaus and is part of the Government of Hamburg.
The parliament is among other things responsible for the law, the election of the (First Mayor) for the election period and the control of the Senate (cabinet).
The President of the Hamburg Parliament is the highest official person of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.constitution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, § 18
Its members are elected in universal, direct, free, equal and secret elections every five years.
History
Origins (literally citizenry) is a term in use since the Middle Ages to refer to the male inhabitants of Hamburg with citizenship. A committee of the landowning class within the city, called , was formed out of this group in the 15th century to consult with the city's ruling councillors (; later called the "Senate of Hamburg" following the Roman example), and to be consulted by them.
The city council, in early times supposedly elected by male citizens, had turned into an autocratic body restaffing its vacancies by coöptation. The system of coöptating seats was prone to corruption and it came to several major struggles in the following decades. The first relevant document organising power and tasks of citizenry and the city council (government), which was traditionally dominated by the local merchants, dates back to 1410 and is named (roughly: The first Settlement, literally the agreement reached before parting [Lat. recedere] of the negotiating partners).The term Rezess, more precisely Hanserezess, was also used by the Hanseatic League for the final communiqués reached on its diets (Hansetage).
The Erster Rezess came about after the city council (Senate, no parliament but the government) had cited and arrested ,His Low Saxon name is today often quoted in the then unknown modern Standard German variant as Hein Brand(t). a burgher of Hamburg. Brandes had claims due against John IV, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from a credit which Brandes had granted earlier. Brandes had taken the defaulting duke, during his visit in Hamburg in 1410, to task and dunned him in a way the duke considered insulting.Tim Albrecht and Stephan Michaelsen, Entwicklung des Hamburger Stadtrechts , note 36, retrieved on 14 May 2013. The duke complained to the senate, which then interrogated Brandes. He admitted the dunning, and thus the senate arrested him. This caused a civic uproar of Hamburgers.
"In Hamburg as in other cities, the parishes ... had been not only church districts but also municipal political districts since the Middle Ages. They ... formed four incorporated bodies (Petri, Nikolai, Katharinen, Jacobi) in which the "allodial" (property-owning) burghers and the heads of guilds – thus only a fraction of the male population – were entitled to vote."Rainer Postel, "Hamburg at the Time of the Peace of Westphalia", in: 1648, War and Peace in Europe: 3 vols., Klaus Bussmann and Heinz Schilling (eds.), Münster in Westphalia: Veranstaltungsgesellschaft 350 Jahre Westfälischer Friede, 1998, (=Catalogue for the exhibition "1648: War and Peace in Europe" 24 October 1998-17 January 1999 in Münster in Westphalia and Osnabrück), vol. 1: 'Politics, Religion, Law, and Society', pp. 337–343, here p. 341. . The enfranchised citizens, grouped along their parishes, then elected from each of the then four parishes 12 representatives (deacons), the Council of the Forty-Eighters (die Achtundvierziger), who on Saint Lawrence Day (August 10) stipulated with the senate the Recess of 1410 (later called Erster Rezess).
The Erster Rezess is now considered Hamburg's oldest constitutional act, establishing first principles balancing the power of the government of the city-state and its citizens. The Erster Rezess established the principle that in Hamburg nobody may be arrested at the government's will but only after a prior judicial hearing and conviction (except of in flagrante delicto).Tim Albrecht and Stephan Michaelsen, Entwicklung des Hamburger Stadtrechts , retrieved on 14 May 2013. Furthermore, the Erster Rezess stipulated that the council (senate) has to synchronise with the citizens in all severe matters, such as war, contracts with foreign powers, or decisions as to levying new or raising higher taxes, by convoking the citizens in plenary assembly.Angelika Grönwall and Joachim Wege, Die Bürgerschaft. Geschichte, Aufgaben und Organe des Hamburger Landesparlaments, 3rd updated ed., Hamburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, 1989, p. 7. The plenary assemblies met in front of the city hall. With an overall population of roughly 10,000 people and only a minority among the male adults enjoying citizenship, the plenary assemblies of the citizenry (the Bürgerschaft) formed a functioning body, though with restricted authority.
The Forty-Eighters persisted, serving as opinion-forming committee within the citizenry, and developed into the first permanent representation of the citizens of Hamburg. Further settlements (Rezesse) between senate and Bürgerschaft constituted the more formalised coöperation between them. "The Reformation brought with it a significant curtailment of the senate's governmental power." In Hamburg the Reformation started in 1524 and was adopted by the Senate in 1529, fixed by the (roughly: Long Settlement, negotiated for more than a year). The Langer Rezess made the ruling council (senate) accountable to several civic committees, forming together the .
"At about the same time, three deacons from each parish (twelve altogether), acting as "chief elders",The Chief Elders of Hamburg (die Oberalten), supervised all religious endowments for the poor after the donations and revenues for the poor of all parishes were centralised in the central God's Chest (Gotteskasten). The then four parishes agreed to this centralisation stipulating in the Langer Rezess with the senate on 29 September 1528 that the college of the chief elders (Kollegium der Oberalten) will be in charge of the endowments. Until today this body administers the endowments taken over then and donated to Hamburg's Lutheran church since. Cf. Die Oberalten , retrieved on 21 January 2013. took on the task of centralizing, administering, and uniformly distributing relief to the poor." The were also entitled to decide with the senate in all matters concerning the welfare and the concord of the city, and formed thus besides Bürgerschaft and senate the third constitutive body, however, excluded from government again by the new constitution of 1859.Cf. Die Oberalten , retrieved on 21 January 2013. The Forty-Eighters, now called (collegial panel of the deacons) continued to exist and the plenary assembly of citizens was replaced by the Assembly of the 144 (, or formally: ), comprising 36 representatives (12 deacons and 24 subdeacons) from each parish.
Later the parishioners of St. Michael's Church in the New Town, established as parish independent of St. Nicholas in 1647, were granted the same rights as the burghers in one of the four parishes in the Old Town, and the same number of representatives. "Beginning in 1685, there were thus fifteen chief elders: sixty deacons instead of forty-eight and 180 assembly members altogether, rather than 144. These structures existed into the nineteenth century, with each college recruiting new members from the next larger." This assembly of 180 (as of 1685) was more and more identified as the Erbgesessene Bürgerschaft, although the council of the Sixty (extended from the Forty-Eighters) was a panel previously subsumed as part of it.
Since Lutheran parishes and the collegial bodies staffed with their parishioners formed the constitutional bodies of Hamburg there was no easy way to open politics for non-Lutherans. Bürgerschaft, chief elders and senate could not settle all aspects of the sensitive balance of power. Thus, a commission, sent by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, had to secure the peace by force in 1708 and the city was once more negotiating and reforming her own administrative structures in the following years.
The Vormärz led to even more criticism of the established structures and Hamburg participated in the elections of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848. This resulted in even more debates and the passed a new electoral law to meet the criticism in September 1848 but the restoration, supported and enforced by Prussian troops during the First Schleswig War, turned the table.
Elections of 1859 A new attempt to reform the constitution was launched after long discussions in 1859 and the met for the last time in November of this year to establish a new order as well as to disband itself in favour of the . Since 1859 refers to this elected parliamentary body.
Hamburg parliament in the Federal Republic The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) maintained its influence over the city's politics during the 1949 elections. Their victory was significant during a time of considerable reconstruction and reform in Germany. The SPD continued to govern Hamburg from that time forward, except from 1953 to 1957, when the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was in power. After this period, however, the SPD regained control and developed Hamburg's political, social, and economic faucets, stretching their influence late into the 20th century.
Since March 23, 2011 the Hamburg Parliament has been in its 20th legislative period in the Federal Republic of Germany. A SPD-Government succeeded a coalition of CDU and the Greens.
Electoral system Since 2008 Hamburg elections have been held using an open-list system of proportional representation. The Sainte-Laguë method is used to distributed seats. Each voter has ten votes: Five votes can be cast for local constituency candidates and five for candidates on each party's state list. The state is divided into 17 constituencies of 3-5 seats. 71 representatives are elected in these based on the result of the constituency vote. A further 50 seats are elected as state list seat, based on the number of state list votes received by each party, distributed in such a way that the distribution of all 121 is proportional to the state list vote. Only parties receiving more than 5% of the state list votes are eligible to receive state list seats; there is no legal threshold for constituency seats.
If a party receiving less than 5% of the vote wins one or more constituency seats, the size of the legislature is increased beyond 121 members. A further seat is added if necessary, to ensure that the total number of members is odd.
Organisation
President and board
The President of the Hamburg Parliament (Präsidentin bzw. Präsident der Hamburgischen Bürgerschaft) presides over plenary sessions and represents the Parliament in official matters. The President is responsible for ensuring that parliamentary proceedings are conducted in accordance with the rules of procedure and that debates are chaired fairly and impartially. The office also has responsibilities relating to the administration and representation of the Parliament. The President is elected by the members of the Bürgerschaft for the duration of the legislative period. By parliamentary convention, the largest parliamentary group has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidency.
The President is supported by the Presidium (Präsidium), which assists with the management and conduct of parliamentary business. In the current legislative period, the Presidium consists of the President, a First Vice-President, three additional Vice-Presidents, and two secretaries. All members of the Presidium are elected by the Parliament at the beginning of a legislative period.