The politics of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

takes place within a framework of a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the

Federal Government of Germany The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including

. The state has a multi-party system where, as in most other states of former Western Germany and the federal level, the two main parties are the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Governments

The governments and ministers-President (''Ministerpräsidenten'') of the

People's State of Hesse The People's State of Hesse (german: Volksstaat Hessen) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse (german: Großherzogtum Hessen) after the defeat of the German Empire in World W ...

during the time of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

were: # 1919–1928: Center-right government, an

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

– DDP– Zentrum coalition led by Carl Ulrich (SPD) as minister-president # 1928–1933: Center-right government, an

– DDP– Zentrum coalition led by

Bernhard Adelung Bernhard Adelung (30 November 1876, Bremen – 24 February 1943, Darmstadt) was social democratic politician and President of the republic in the Peoples State of Hesse from 1928 to 1933. After completing his apprenticeship as a typesetter and ...

(SPD) as minister-president The governments of the National Socialist era: # 1933:

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

government with Ferdinand Werner (NSDAP) and minister-president # 1933–1935: National Socialist government with Philipp Wilhelm Jung (NSDAP) as minister-president # 1935–1945: National Socialist government with

Jakob Sprenger Jakob Sprenger (24 July 1884 – 7 May 1945) was a Nazi Party official and politician who was the Party's ''Gauleiter'' of Hesse-Nassau South from 1927 to 1933 and Gau Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1945. He was also the ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich ...

(NSDAP) as minister-president The governments and minister-Presidents of Hesse since the establishment of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

: # 1945: Military occupation provisional government led by Ludwig Bergsträsser(SPD), appointed by the U.S. Military # 1945–1946: Military occupation provisional government led by Karl Geiler (no party), appointed by the U.S. military # 1946–1950: Theoretically a CDU–SPD grand coalition with

Christian Stock Christian Stock (28 August 1884, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse – 13 April 1967 in Seeheim-Jugenheim) was a German Social Democrat politician and the first Prime Minister—''Ministerpräsident''—of the provisional state of Greater Hess ...

(

) as minister-president, though U.S. Military Occupation remained through 1949. # 1950–1969: First truly non-military government of the Federal Republic, led by

Georg-August Zinn Georg August Zinn (27 May 1901 – 27 March 1976) was a German lawyer and a politician of the SPD. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1951 representing Kassel, the 2nd Minister-President of Hesse from 1950 to 1969 and served as ...

(

), whose SPD ruled in coalition with the

All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights The All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (german: Gesamtdeutscher Block/Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten or GB/BHE) was a right-wing political party in West Germany, which acted as an advocacy group of the Germa ...

, a party of expelled eastern Germans whose political goal was to retrieve their homelands (heimatlaender); and also with the League of Expellees' successors party the Gesamtdeutsche Partei. # 1969–1976: Center-left government of the SPD- FDP, with

Albert Osswald Albert Osswald (16 May 1919 – 15 August 1996) was a German politician (SPD). He served as the 3rd Minister President of the state of Hesse from 1969 to 1976 and as the 27th President of the Bundesrat in 1975/76. Biography Oswald was bor ...

(

) as minister-president # 1976–1982: Center-left government of the SPD-FDP continued with Holger Börner (

) as minister-president. # 1982–1984: Center-left government of the SPD (single party rule) with Holger Börner (

) as minister-president. # 1984–1987: Center-left government of the SPD– Greens with Holger Börner (

) as minister-president. # 1987–1991: Center-right government of the CDU–FDP with

Walter Wallmann Walter Wallmann (24 September 1932 – 21 September 2013) was a German lawyer politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the Mayor of Frankfurt between 1977 and 1986, and as Minister-president of Hesse from 1987 to 1991. ...

( CDU) as minister-president. # 1991–1999: Center-left government of the SPD–Greens with

Hans Eichel Hans Eichel (born 24 December 1941) is a German politician ( SPD) and the co-founder of the G20, or "Group of Twenty", an international forum for the governments and central bank governors of twenty developed and developing nations to discuss ...

(

) as minister-president. # 1999–2003: Center-right government of the CDU–FDP with

Roland Koch Roland Koch (born 24 March 1958) is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the CDU. He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term beg ...

( CDU) as minister-president. # 2003–2009: Center-right government of the CDU (single party rule) with

( CDU) as minister-president. # 2009–2010: Center-right government of the CDU-FDP with

( CDU) as minister-president. # 2010–present: Center-right government of the CDU–FDP with Volker Bouffier ( CDU) as minister-president. Since 1950, the SPD has been in the Hesse government 45 years, the CDU for 14 years; the FDP acted as coalition partners with either CDU or SPD for 21 years (13 with SPD, 8 with CDU).

Elections

The Hesse state election of 2008 for the state government (

Landtag of Hesse The Landtag of Hesse (german: link=no, Hessischer Landtag) is the unicameral parliament of the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of Germany. It convenes in the Stadtschloss in Wiesbaden. As a legislature it is responsible for passing l ...

) saw CDU support collapse, and it was widely assumed that the CDU would not participate in the new government. While outgoing CDU

minister-president A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Roland Koch did lose his majority, the opposing parties were unable to form a coalition.

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

and FDP rejected jointly sharing power with the CDU or SPD. This meant that the SPD and Greens needed to reach out to the new far-left Left party bloc of Landtag members, something very unpopular with most SPD members. After two unsuccessful attempts to form a coalition from SPD and Greens with support from The Left, all parties except the SPD agreed to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections in January 2009. These were held, and popular anger at the bungling of the SPD delivered enough seats to form a new CDU-FDP coalition.

Governments

Elections

See also