Editing Rostock (section)

==Politics==

===Districts===
{{wide image|Rostock1788.jpg|400px|1788 historic map of Rostock, showing earlier district names}}
{{wide image|Rostock subdivisions.svg|400px|Modern Districts of Rostock}}

===Symbols===
[[File:Rostock Wappen.svg|thumb|upright|right|Coat of arms]]
[[File:Rostock Wahlspruch.jpg|thumb|[[Motto]]: ''Within your walls may be harmony and happiness'' {{in lang|la}}]]

Rostock has had three different coats of arms, known as the ''Signum'', the ''Secretum'' and the ''Sigillum''. The Signum, which can be traced back to 1367, was developed last and is to this day the coat of arms of the city.

The Signum depicts a golden [[griffin]] on a blue background, with bars of silver and red, the colours of the [[Hanseatic League]], below. It can be seen not only on flags and houses, and at bus stops, but also on bridges, gullies, fences, ships and restaurants.

===Administration===
[[File:Rostock asv2018-05 img37 NeuerMarkt.jpg|thumb|Restored Rostock City Hall, a mixture of Baroque and [[Brick Gothic]] architecture]]
Since the 13th century, the governing body of the city has been the city council (''Rat''), first consisting of ten, later of 24 elected [[alderman|aldermen]] (''Ratsherren''). The chairman of the city council was the city mayor. In the 19th century there were three mayors. Since 1925, the head of the city has borne the title of [[Mayor]]. Having been elected by the city council for centuries, since 2002 this position is now elected directly by the citizens of Rostock, following a reform. If a candidate does not achieve an absolute majority in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes stand in a second round.

[[File:2022 Rostock mayoral election (2nd round).svg|thumb|300px|Results of the second round of the 2022 mayoral election]]
The current mayor of Rostock is Eva-Maria Kröger of [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]], who was elected mayor in 2022 and took office on 1 February 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Rostock-Neue-Oberbuergermeisterin-Eva-Maria-Kroeger-tritt-Amt-an,kurzmeldungmv9434.html|title=Rostock: New Mayor Eva-Maria Kröger takes office|date=1 February 2023|language=de|website=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk]]}}</ref> She won in the second round with 58.4% of votes against senior police officer Michael Ebert, an [[Independent politician|independent]] backed by the [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]], Independent Citizens for Rostock, and [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rostock-eva-maria-kroeger-wird-neue-oberbuergermeisterin-a-cb7f56f7-c60a-4d4b-b48a-58d22fd3a6b1|title=Left's Eva-Maria Kröger becomes the new mayor of Rostock|date=27 November 2022|language=de|website=[[Der Spiegel]]}}</ref>

The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 November 2022, with a runoff held on 27 November, 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|The Left (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| [[Eva-Maria Kröger]]
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]]
| 18,885
| 25.3
| 36,546
| 58.4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Michael Ebert
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]] ([[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]]/UFR/[[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|FDP]])
| 17,598
| 23.6
| 26,082
| 41.6
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}| 
| align=left| Carmen-Alina Botezatu
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]]
| 12,339
| 16.5
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}| 
| align=left| Claudia Müller
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]]
| 6,414
| 8.6
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alternative for Germany}}| 
| align=left| Michael Meister
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]]
| 4,812
| 6.5
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Jörg Kibellus
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 3,836
| 5.1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Jens Kaufmann
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 3,007
| 4.0
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Robert Uhde
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 1,807
| 2.4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Karol Langnickel
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 1,442
| 1.9
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Holger Luckstein
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 1,182
| 1.6
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Niels Burmeister
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 1,109
| 1.5
|-
| 
| align=left| Rebecca Thoß
| align=left| German Beer Drinkers Union
| 669
| 0.9
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Niklas Zimathis
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 453
| 0.6
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Roland Ulrich
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 369
| 0.5
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Matthias Bräuer
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 312
| 0.4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Kai Oppermann
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 196
| 0.3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| Alina Kreis
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| 155
| 0.2
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 71,585
! 99.4
! 62,628
! 99.1
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 476
! 0.6
! 563
! 0.9
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 75,061
! 100.0
! 63,191
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 171,884
! 43.7
! 171,464
! 36.9
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Rostock ([https://wahlen.sv.rostock.de/obw2022/ 1st round], [https://rathaus.rostock.de/wahlen/obw2022Stich/oberbuergermeisterstichwahl.html 2nd round])
|}

[[File:2019 Rostock City Council election - Wahlbezirke.svg|thumb|300px|Winning party by precinct in the 2019 city council election]]
[[File:2019 Rostock City Council election - Results.svg|thumb|300px|Seat distribution in the 2019 city council election]]
The city parliament (''Bürgerschaft'') represents the citizens. Representative are elected for five years. The number of representatives is currently 53. The city parliament is presided by the ''Präsident der Bürgerschaft'', who heads and prepares the sessions and, together with the mayor, represents the city. The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:

{{election table}}
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| [[The Left (Germany)|The Left]] (Die Linke)
| 58,405
| 19.9
| {{decrease}} 6.5
| 11
| {{decrease}} 3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}| 
| align=left| [[Alliance 90/The Greens]] (Grüne)
| 55,616
| 19.0
| {{increase}} 7.5
| 10
| {{increase}} 4
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Christian Democratic Union of Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU)
| 42,422
| 14.5
| {{decrease}} 6.0
| 8
| {{decrease}} 3
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD)
| 42,269
| 14.4
| {{decrease}} 2.5
| 8
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Alternative for Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD)
| 28,294
| 9.6
| {{increase}} 5.2
| 5
| {{increase}} 3
|-
| 
| align=left| Independent Citizens for Rostock (UFR)
| 21,483
| 7.3
| {{decrease}} 0.8
| 4
| ±0
|-
| 
| align=left| Rostock Alliance (RB)
| 12,086
| 4.1
| {{decrease}} 0.5
| 2
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Free Democratic Party (Germany)}}| 
| align=left| [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP)
| 9,645
| 3.3
| {{increase}} 0.8
| 2
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Die PARTEI}}| 
| align=left| [[Die PARTEI]] (PARTEI)
| 7,373
| 2.5
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Free Voters}}| 
| align=left| [[Free Voters]] (FW)
| 3,790
| 1.3
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| 
| align=left| New Start 09 (A'09)
| 2,897
| 1.0
| {{decrease}} 0.5
| 1
| ±0
|-
| colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey| 
|-
| 
| align=left| The Grays - For All Generations (Graue)
| 1,869
| 0.6
| {{decrease}} 0.1
| 0
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Pirate Party Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[Pirate Party Germany]] (Piraten)
| 1,714
| 0.6
| New
| 0
| New
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|National Democratic Party of Germany}}| 
| align=left| [[National Democratic Party of Germany|National Democratic Party]] (NPD)
| 1,633
| 0.6
| {{decrease}} 1.2
| 0
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|Independent politician}}| 
| align=left| [[Independent politician|Independents]]
| 3,779
| 1.3
| 
| 0
| ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Valid votes
! 293,275
! 98.6
! 
! 
! 
|-
! colspan=2| Invalid votes
! 4,179
! 1.4
! 
! 
! 
|-
! colspan=2| Total
! 102,304
! 100.0
! 
! 53
! ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 173,650
! 58.9
! {{increase}} 18.4
! 
! 
|-
| colspan=7| Source: [https://rathaus.rostock.de/wahlen/bsw2019/buergerschaftswahl.html City of Rostock]
|}

[[File:Regiopole Rostock Verflechtungen.jpg|thumb|upright|Geographical position of the Rostock [[Regiopolis]]]]

===Regiopolis Rostock===
Rostock is the first city region that defines itself not only as a city in its boundaries, but as a [[regiopolis]], with a supra-regional sphere of influence. A regiopolis can be compared to a [[metropolis]], but on a smaller scale. This is a sign for the inter-regional cooperation and economic dynamics that can be found in the Rostock area. A taskforce with different actors such as the hanseatic city of Rostock, the administrative [[Rostock (district)|district of Rostock]], the ''Regional Planning Association Middle Mecklenburg/Rostock'' and the local business organisations are working on the promotion and advancement of the concept.<ref>[http://www.regiopole-rostock.de/ Regiopole Rostock] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426204809/http://www.regiopole-rostock.de/ |date=26 April 2014 }} (German)</ref>