The minister-president (, ), sometimes referred to in English as the State Premier, is the head of government in thirteen of Germany's sixteen states.
In Berlin, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the heads of government hold different titles: in Berlin, Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) (before 1951 Mayor/Bürgermeister) in Bremen, President of the Senate (Präsident des Senats)According to the Bremen state constitution, the Senate (the Bremen state government) includes two mayors, one of whom also holds the position of President of the Senate. The President of the Senate is the head of government (de facto), whose role corresponds to that of a minister-president in the other german states, while the other mayor is his or her deputy (Deputy President of the Senate). The title of mayor only refers to the functions of the two members of the Senate as heads of the administration of the city of Bremen (the city of Bremerhaven, which also belongs to the state, has its own local administration). Regardless, in informal contexts or in the media, the President of the Senate is often simply called 'mayor'. See in Hamburg, First Mayor (Erster Bürgermeister).
In the former states of Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern, defunct since 1952, the heads of government held the title State President (Staatspräsident).
Nevertheless, in Germany, it is common to refer to all sixteen heads of the states as minister-presidents when they are referred to collectively. For example, the regular meetings of the sixteen office-holders are called Conference of minister-presidents (Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz).
Constitutional roles and powers As the German constitution (Basic Law) defines the Federal Republic of Germany as a federation, each German state enjoys sovereignty, limited only by the Basic Law. The Basic Law gives the states a broad discretion to determine their respective state structure, only stating that each German state has to be a social and democratic republic under the rule of law (Article 28.1). In practice all German states have adopted some form of a mixed parliamentary republican system: Despite some differences between the individual state constitutions, the minister-presidents have both typical powers of an executive leader (for example appointing and dismissing cabinet members or defining the political guidelines of the cabinet) and typical powers and functions of a head of state (for example the power to grant pardons on behalf of the state and to perform certain ceremonial duties). As such, their powers and functions resemble those of an executive president, but in contrast to a presidential system, they are not directly elected and depend on the confidence of the respective state parliament. Thus, the constitutional position of a minister-president differs from that of the Chancellor of Germany at the federal level, who only holds the role of a chief executive leader, while the President of Germany performs the more ceremonial powers and functions of the federal head of state.
Even though all sixteen Minister-presidents hold roughly the same position in their states, there are also some important differences between the provisions of the state constitutions with regard to the head of state and government. This begins with the election procedure: All Minister-presidents are elected by the state parliament, but while in some states a majority of parliament members is needed for a successful election, in other states a simple majority (a plurality of votes cast) is sufficient. The same goes for recall procedures: In some states, the parliament may simply vote an officeholder out of office, while in other states the parliament has to elect a new officeholder at the same time (Constructive vote of no confidence). In Bavaria, the constitution does not allow a recall of the minister-president at all. In fifteen states, the state constitution defines the minister-president as the leader of the cabinet, giving them the right, to determine the cabinet's political guidelines, but this is not the case in Bremen, where the President of the Senate only has a ceremonial precedence over the other cabinet members. The power of the minister-president to shape the cabinet also varies: Some states allow the office-holder complete discretion in appointing or dismissing cabinet ministers, while others impose limits. The constitution of Bremen does not grant the President of the Senate any direct influence over the cabinet's composition.
State Title Election threshold Recall procedure Position in cabinet Power to shape the cabinet Right to grant pardon Minimum age Other provisions Baden-Württemberg Minister-president majority of members constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence limited (cabinet appointments subject to parliamentary approval, the state parliament may recall individual cabinet ministers with a two-thirds majority) yes 35 Free State of Bavaria Minister-president simple majority none guideline competence limited (cabinet appointments subject to parliamentary approval) yes 40 Berlin Governing Mayor simple majority vote of no confidence (if the state parliament does not elect a new Governing Mayor within 21 days, the former officeholder is reinvested automatically) guideline competence full no (whole cabinet) 18 (de facto) Brandenburg Minister-President majority of members (first and second ballot), plurality (third ballot) constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) Bremen President of the Senate and Mayor simple majority constructive vote of no confidence ceremonial precedence none (the parliament elects and dismisses all cabinet members) no (whole cabinet) 18 may not be a member of the state parliament Hamburg First Mayor and President of the Senate majority of members constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence limited (cabinet appointments subject to parliamentary approval) no (whole cabinet) 18 may not be a member of the state parliament Hesse Minister-president majority of members vote of no confidence guideline competence limited (dismissal of cabinet members subject to parliamentary approval) yes 18 (de facto) members of noble houses, which have reigned in Germany before 1918, are ineligible for office Lower Saxony Minister-president majority of members or plurality, if the state parliament does not elect a minister-president in 21 days and does not dissolve itself thereupon constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence limited (cabinet appointments subject to parliamentary approval) yes 18 (de facto) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Minister-president majority of members or plurality, if the state parliament does not elect a minister-president in 28 days and does not dissolve itself thereupon constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President majority of members (first ballot), simple majority (second and third ballot), runoff (fourth ballot) constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 has to be a member of the state parliament Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-president majority of members vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) Saarland Minister-president majority of members vote of no confidence guideline competence limited (cabinet appointments and dismissals subject to parliamentary approval) no (whole cabinet) 18 (de facto) Free State of Saxony Minister-president majority of members (first ballot), simple majority (following ballots) constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) Saxony-Anhalt Minister-president majority of members or simple majority, if the state parliament does not elect a minister-president in 14 days and does not dissolve itself thereupon constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) Schleswig-Holstein Minister-president majority of members (first and second ballot), plurality (third ballot) constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto) Free State of Thuringia Minister-president majority of members (first and second ballot), plurality (third ballot) constructive vote of no confidence guideline competence full yes 18 (de facto)
By virtue of their position in the Bundesrat, the minister-presidents can exert considerable influence on national politics within the federal structure. Along with several of their ministers, they commonly represent their state in the Bundesrat (the German Federal Council). Each state government is represented in the Bundesrat by three to six delegates, depending on the state's population.
List of current minister-presidents
The longest-serving incumbent head of government of a German state is Dietmar Woidke, who has served as the minister-president of Brandenburg since 28 August 2013. Gordon Schnieder, the minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate since 18 May 2026, is the shortest-serving incumbent.
State Portrait Head of government Party Took office Time in office Last election Next election Current cabinet Baden-Württemberg Cem Özdemir Greens 2026 2031 Özdemir Bavaria Markus Söder CSU 2023 2028 Söder III Berlin Kai Wegner CDU 2023 2026 Wegner Brandenburg Dietmar Woidke SPD 2024 2029 Woidke IV/V Bremen Andreas Bovenschulte SPD 2023 2027 Bovenschulte II Hamburg Peter Tschentscher SPD 2025 2030 Hesse Boris Rhein CDU 2023 2028 Rhein II Lower Saxony Olaf Lies SPD 2022 2027 Lies Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Manuela Schwesig SPD 2021 2026 Schwesig II North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst CDU 2022 2027 Wüst II Rhineland-Palatinate Gordon Schnieder CDU 2026 2031 Schnieder Saarland Anke Rehlinger SPD 2022 2027 Rehlinger Saxony Michael Kretschmer CDU 2024 2029 Kretschmer III Saxony-Anhalt Sven Schulze CDU 2021 2026 Schulze Schleswig-Holstein Daniel Günther CDU 2022 2027 Günther II Thuringia Mario Voigt CDU 2024 2029 Voigt
Deputies The minister-presidents appoint one member of their cabinet as their deputy. In most states the deputy of the minister-president holds the title Deputy Minister-president (in Berlin Mayor, in Bremen Deputy President of the Senate and in Hamburg Second Mayor). In some states, the state constitution allows for the oppointment of more than one deputy. This option is used sometimes in coalition governments with more than two parties, although in this case a hierarchy is usually established between the deputies (first and second deputy minster-president or, in Bavaria, deputy minister-president and additional deputy minister-president). Berlin is a special case, as the state constitution there requires the appointment of two equally ranking deputies.