First Mayor

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The First Mayor is the head of government of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , who is elected by the state's parliament, the Hamburg Citizenship . The current First Mayor is Peter Tschentscher , who was elected to succeed Olaf Scholz on March 28, 2018 . Predecessors can be found in the list of Hamburg mayors .

Position and duties

The First Mayor presides over the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , chairs its meetings and represents it externally. Therefore, the full title is also "First Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg". Until the constitutional amendment in 1996 it acted as primus inter pares , since then it has had the authority to issue guidelines . The official seat of the First Mayor is the Hamburg City Hall , where the Senate Chancellery subordinate to him is also housed as the central government authority .

Because Hamburg, as a city-state, is also a state , the office of First Mayor corresponds to that of a Prime Minister of other German states, and like them he is usually a member of the Federal Council , which he presides over every 16 years as President . He also represents Hamburg in the German Association of Cities .

The Hamburg Citizenship elects the First Mayor for the period up to the meeting of a newly elected Citizenship. The regular term of office was four years until 2009. With the change in the electoral law in 2009 , the First Mayor is elected for five years. The first mayor appoints his deputy, the second mayor, and the individual senators. These must be confirmed by the citizenry.

The personal salutation of the First Mayor is only Mr. Mayor . “First” is omitted from the direct oral address.

Second mayor

The second mayor is the deputy of the first mayor and at the same time, as a senator, the president of an authority. The current second mayor Katharina Fegebank is both senator and president of the authority for science, research and equality . In a coalition government , the second mayor is usually a member of the smaller coalition party.

history

The terms first and second mayor are derived from Hamburg's constitutional history. In the past, the council (also called Rath, since 1860 called Senate) elected two “word-keeping mayors” from among its members. The constitutional law from 1529 ("Long Recess") provided for the election of four mayors from the ranks of the councilors, two of whom were to act as mayors every year. This was also retained with the constitutional amendment in 1712 ("main recession").

The constitution of September 28, 1860 stipulated that the senators were elected by the citizenry (albeit still for life) and that the senate could no longer supplement itself. It was envisaged that at least 9 senators had to have a legal education; these senators bore the brunt of the administrative work and were not allowed to pursue any other activity. The constitution stipulated that only a legally trained senator could become first mayor. Every year the Senate determined which of the legal senators should be the first mayor and thus the president of the senate. The Senate usually voted according to the following pattern:

year 1st Mayor 2nd Mayor "Rest year"
1 Senator A. Senator B Senator C
2 Senator B Senator C Senator A.
3 Senator C Senator A. Senator B
4th Senator A. Senator B Senator C

The office usually alternated between the three senior legal senators. The term of office was usually a calendar year. Also, no mayor was allowed to hold office for more than two consecutive years. In addition, a first mayor should not hold the office of police master at the same time . This system should prevent the risk of abuse of office .

After the first free and democratic citizenship elections in 1919, the President of the Senate was elected as First Mayor and the Second Mayor as his deputy from the middle of the Senate. The term of office was again one year - with the possibility of re-election.

This system of mayoral elections remained in place - with an interruption during the Nazi era - and found its way into Article 41 of the new constitution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg of June 6, 1952. It was only ended by a reform in 1996.

In 1945 the British occupying power wanted to call Hamburg's highest office first mayor, as it was known from other German cities. Rudolf Petersen , who has not yet been appointed mayor, successfully defended himself against this with the argument that the title of “Lord Mayor” traditionally does not suit Hamburg.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Bolland: The Hamburg citizenship in old and new times. Hamburg 1959, appendix.
  2. ↑ Erich Lüth : Hamburg's fate was in your hands. History of citizenship. Marion von Schröder, Hamburg 1966, pp. 242–245.