Editing Potsdam (section)

==Governance==
[[File:Potsdam Rathaus 07-2017.jpg|thumb|Potsdamer Stadthaus, the city hall]]

===City government===
Potsdam has had a [[mayor]] (''Bürgermeister'') and [[city council]] since the 15th century. From 1809 the city council was elected, with a mayor (''Oberbürgermeister'') at its head. During [[Nazi Germany]], the mayor was selected by the [[NSDAP]] and the city council was dissolved; it was reconstituted in token form after 1945, but free elections did not take place until after [[reunification]].

Today, the city council is the city's central administrative authority. Local elections took place on 26 October 2003 and again in 2008. Between 1990 and 1999, the Chairman of the City Council was known as the "Town President" but today the post is the "Chairman of the City Council". The mayor is elected directly by the population.

[[File:2018 Potsdam mayoral election (2nd round).svg|thumb|300px|Results of the second round of the 2018 mayoral election.]]
The current mayor is Mike Schubert of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD) since 2018. The most recent mayoral election was held on 23 September 2018, with a runoff held on 14 October, and the results were as follows:

{{election table}}
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate
! rowspan=2| Party
! colspan=2| First round
! colspan=2| Second round
|-
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}| 
| align=left| Mike Schubert
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]
| 23,872
| 32.2
| 28,803
| 55.3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| Martina Trauth
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]]
| 14,161
| 19.1
| 23,283
| 44.7
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}| 
| align=left| Götz Friederich
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]]
| 12,892
| 17.4
|-
| bgcolor=127070| 
| align=left| Lutz Boede
| align=left| The Others
| 8,449
| 11.4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alternative for Germany}}| 
| align=left| Dennis Hohloch
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]]
| 8,215
| 11.1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}| 
| align=left| Janny Armbruster
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
| 6,586
| 8.9
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 74,175
! 99.3
! 52,086
! 97.7
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 549
! 0.7
! 1,251
! 2.3
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 74,724
! 100.0
! 53,337
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 140,963
! 53.0
! 141,109
! 37.8
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Potsdam ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220815110012/https://egov.potsdam.de/wahlen/app/bw2018hw.html 1st round], [https://web.archive.org/web/20220815084902/https://egov.potsdam.de/wahlen/app/bw2018stich.html 2nd round])
|}

The city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows:

{{election table}}
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD)
| 57,258
| 19.4
| {{increase}} 0.1
| 11
| {{steady}} 0
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU)
| 43,494
| 14.7
| {{increase}} 2.3
| 8
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}| 
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] (Grüne)
| 42,804
| 14.5
| {{decrease}} 4.3
| 8
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alternative for Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD)
| 40,321
| 13.7
| {{increase}} 4.2
| 8
| {{increase}} 3
|-
| bgcolor=127070| 
| align=left| The Others (aNDERE)
| 29,973
| 10.2
| {{decrease}} 0.2
| 6
| {{steady}} 0
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]] (Die Linke)
| 25,778
| 8.7
| {{decrease}} 9.3
| 5
| {{decrease}} 5
|-
| 
| align=left| Citizens' Alliance Free Voters (BfW)
| 16,167
| 5.5
| New
| 3
| New
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Free Democratic Party (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP)
| 13,155
| 4.5
| {{decrease}} 0.4
| 2
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters}}| 
| align=left| [[Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters|Brandenburg Free Voters]] (BVB/FW)
| 8,686
| 2.9
| {{increase}} 1.8
| 2
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Die PARTEI}}| 
| align=left| [[Die PARTEI]]
| 7,837
| 2.7
| {{increase}} 1.1
| 1
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Volt Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Volt Germany]] (Volt)
| 5,503
| 1.9
| New
| 0
| New
|-
| 
| align=left| Potsdam Centre (Mitten)
| 3,559
| 1.2
| New
| 0
| New
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Independent Witzsche
| 485
| 0.2
| New
| 0
| New
|-
! colspan=2| Valid votes
! 295,020
! 100.0
! 
! 56
! ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Invalid ballots
! 1,665
! 1.7
! 
! 
! 
|-
! colspan=2| Total ballots
! 100,728
! 100.0
! 
! 
! 
|-
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 143,118
! 70.4
! {{increase}} 8.1
! 
! 
|-
| colspan=7| Source: [https://wahlergebnisse.brandenburg.de/54/200/20240609/kreistagswahl_kreis/index.html City of Potsdam]
|}

===Brandenburg state government===
The [[Landtag Brandenburg]], the parliament of the [[States of Germany|state]] of Brandenburg is in Potsdam. It has been housed in the [[Stadtschloss, Potsdam|Potsdam City Palace]] since 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/804384/|title=Landtag: Umzug ins neue Domizil|first=Yvonne|last=Jennerjahn|date=13 November 2013|via=Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten|access-date=4 January 2014|archive-date=17 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317200731/http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/804384/|url-status=dead}}</ref>