Editing Mayor (section)

===Germany===
In Germany, local government is regulated by [[states of Germany|state]] statutes. Nowadays only the mayors of the three city-states (Berlin, Hamburg and [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]]) are still elected by the respective city-state parliaments. In all the other states the mayors are now elected directly by the [[EU citizen]]s living in that area. The post of mayor may be said to be a professional one, the mayor being the head of the local government, and requiring, in order to be eligible, training in administration. In big cities (details are regulated by state statutes) the official title is {{Lang|de|'''Oberbürgermeister'''}} (mayor). In these cities, a "simple" mayor is just a deputy responsible for a distinct task (e.g., welfare or construction works). Big cities are usually ''[[Kreisfreie Stadt|kreisfrei]]'' ('district-free'). That means that the city council also has the powers and duties of a rural district council. The leader of a rural district council is called {{Lang|de|Landrat}} ('land counsellor'). In that case, the chief mayor also has the duties and powers of a {{Lang|de|Landrat}}.

There are also some German states that allow smaller cities to have an ''Oberbürgermeister'' as well. In [[Saarland]], for instance, every city with more than 35,000 inhabitants has one, and in [[Saxony-Anhalt]] every city with a population bigger than 25,000 has one. The term {{Lang|de|Oberbürgermeister}} is not used in the three city-states, where the mayors are simultaneously [[minister-president|head of state governments]], but {{Lang|de|Regierender Bürgermeister}} ([[Governing Mayor of Berlin]]), {{Lang|de|Erster Bürgermeister}} ([[First Mayor of the city-state of Hamburg]]) and {{Lang|de|Präsident des Senats und Bürgermeister}} ([[Mayor of Bremen|President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen]]) are used. However, the term {{Lang|de|Oberbürgermeister}} was used for the head of the state government of [[West Berlin]] until 1951 and was also used in [[East Berlin]] from 1948 to January 1991.