Editing Hesse (section)

== State symbols and politics ==
{{Main|Politics of Hesse}}

Hesse has been a parliamentary republic since 1918, except during [[Nazi Germany|Nazi rule]] (1933–1945). The German federal system has elements of exclusive federal competences, shared competences, and exclusive competences of the states. Hesse is famous for having a rather brisk style in its politics with the ruling parties being either the center-right [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) or the center-left [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD). Due to the Hessian electoral laws, the biggest party normally needs a smaller coalition partner.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Head of state ===
As Hesse is a partly sovereign [[federated state]], its constitution combines the offices of the [[head of state]] and [[head of government]] in one office called the [[Minister-president|Minister-President]] (German: ''Ministerpräsident'') which is comparable to the office of a [[prime minister]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== 2023 Election ===
After the 2023 election, the coalition government in Hesse changed from a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Alliance 90/The Greens coalition to an agreement between the CDU and Social Democratic Party.<ref name="s748">{{cite web | last=Hetrodt | first=Ewald | title=Schwarz-roter Koalitionsvertrag in Hessen ist beschlossen | website=FAZ.NET | date=2023-12-16 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/schwarz-roter-koalitionsvertrag-in-hessen-ist-beschlossen-19389531.html#pageIndex_2 | language=de | access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref>
{{Election table
| title=Summary of the 8 October 2023 election results for the [[Landtag of Hesse]]<ref>{{
Cite web
| access-date=2023-11-06
| language=de
| title=Hessen Wahlergebnis
| url=https://wahlen.hessen-ltw23.23degrees.eu/wk/00000000000/overview
| website=Hessen Wahlergebnis
}}</ref>|
}}
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Seats 
! +/-
|-
| bgcolor="{{Party color|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}" |
| align="left" | [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]]
| 52
| {{increase}} 12
|-
| bgcolor="{{Party color|Alternative for Germany}}" |
| align="left" | [[Alternative for Germany]]
| 28
| {{increase}} 9
|-
| bgcolor="{{Party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}" |
| align="left" | [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]
| 23
| {{decrease}} 6
|-
| bgcolor="{{Party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}" |
| align="left"| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
|22
| {{decrease}} 7
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! 133
! {{decrease}} 4
|-
|}
===2018 Election===
[[File:Landtag of Hesse 2018.svg|thumb|The Hessian parliament as of the 2018 election]]
In the [[Hessian state election, 2018|2018 state elections]] the two leading parties, CDU and SPD, lost 11.3% (7 seats) and 10.9% (8 seats) of the vote respectively. The Green party, a member of Hesse's previous governing coalition with CDU, gained 8.7% (16 seats). The largest gains during the election were made by [[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD) at 13.1%. As AfD had not passed the 5% threshold in the [[Hessian state election, 2013|2013 state election]], this marked its first entry into the [[Landtag of Hesse|Hessian parliament]] (''Hessischer Landtag''). The two other parties also made gains. The major losses of the two leading parties (whose [[Grand coalition (Germany)|coalition]] made up the federal cabinet during the election) closely mirrors the results of the [[Bavarian state election, 2018|2018 state elections in Bavaria]]. In the 2018-2023 parliament, the conservative CDU held 40 seats, the centre-left SPD and the leftist Green party each held 29 seats, the right-wing AfD held 19 seats, the liberal [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|FDP]] party held 11 seats and the socialist party [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]] held 9 seats.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Foreign affairs ===
As a member state of the German federation, Hesse does not have a diplomatic service of its own. However, Hesse operates representation offices in such foreign countries as the United States, China, Hungary, Cuba, Russia, Poland, and Iran. These offices are mostly used to represent Hessian interests in cultural and economic affairs. Hesse has also permanent representation offices in Berlin at the [[federal government of Germany]] and in [[Brussels]] at the [[institutions of the European Union]].<ref>State of Hesse. Foreign representation offices. [http://www.hessen-yaroslavl.de/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=15154] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823090345/http://www.hessen-yaroslavl.de/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=15154|date=23 August 2014}} Retrieved 30 June 2014</ref>

=== Flag and anthem ===
The flag colors of Hesse are red and white, which are printed on a Hessian sack. The civil flag of Hesse resembles that of [[Monaco]]'s and, particularly, [[Indonesia]]'s. The [[Coat of arms of Hesse|Hessian coat of arms]] shows a lion rampant striped with red and white (silver), on a blue field. The official anthem of Hesse is called "''[[Hessenlied]]''" ("Song of Hesse") and was written by Albrecht Brede (music) and Carl Preser (lyrics).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hessen.de/fuer-besucher/leben-hessen/ich-kenne-ein-land|title="Ich kenne ein Land" {{!}} Informationsportal Hessen|website=www.hessen.de|language=de|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513223645/https://www.hessen.de/fuer-besucher/leben-hessen/ich-kenne-ein-land|url-status=dead}}</ref>