The
government of Hamburg is divided into
executive,
legislative and
judicial branches. Due to the characteristic that
Hamburg is a city-
state and a
municipality in
Germany, the governance deals with several details of both state politics and community politics. It takes place in two ranks – a city-wide and state administration (
Senate of Hamburg), and a local rank for the boroughs. The head of the city-state's government is the
First Mayor and President of the Senate. A ministry is called
Behörde (office) and a state
minister is a
Senator in Hamburg. The legislature is the state parliament, called
Hamburgische Bürgerschaft, and the judicial branch is composed of the state supreme court and other courts. The seat of the government is
Hamburg Rathaus. The
President of the Hamburg Parliament is the highest official person of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. This is a traditional difference to the other german states. The president is not allowed to exert anny occupation of the executive.