The Members of the Bürgerschaft represent the whole population of Hamburg. There are 123 Members in the present 22nd parliamentary term, which began on 18 March 2020.
They were elected in February 2020 in a free and secret ballot according to a system of personalised proportional representation. The 17 electoral districts into which Hamburg is divided returned 71 Members to parliament. The remaining 52 were elected from the party lists.
The members of the individual parties represented in the Bürgerschaft usually join to form parliamentary groups. At present, 53 Members belong to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), 32 to the Greens (GRÜNE), 16 to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), 11 to the Left Party (DIE LINKE) and six to the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD). There are five independent members.
According to Hamburg’s constitution, Members of the Bürgerschaft are representatives of the people as a whole, subject only to their own consciences and not bound by any orders. The Members are not bound by decisions made by their own parties or parliamentary groups.
Their rights and duties are laid down in the Hamburg Parliamentary Act.
The Hamburg Bürgerschaft is your parliament. By their election, Bürgerschaft Members take on the responsibility to represent the political interests of the people. As a rule, the work of Members is public, and dialogue with you, the people, is of great importance. Every citizen has the possibility of putting questions and suggestions to Members.
