States of Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia are divided into governmental districts, or "Regierungsbezirke". In Rhineland-Palatinate, these districts were abolished on January 1, 2000, in Saxony-Anhalt on January 1, 2004, and in Lower Saxony on January 1, 2005. From 1990 until 2012, Saxony was divided into three districts (called "Direktionsbezirke" since 2008). In 2012, these districts' authorities were merged into one central authority, the "". The Districts of Germany "(Kreise)" are administrative districts, and every state except the city-states of Berlin and Hamburg and the state of Bremen consists of "rural districts" "(Landkreise)," District-free Towns/Cities ("Kreisfreie Städte", in Baden-Württemberg also called "urban districts", or
Old states of Germany Berlin the Union, SPD, FDP and Greens stronger, on the other hand right-wing populist parties and The Left weaker than in the east. Unlike in the East, there are not 3 or since 2016 4 equally strong parties but a "two-party dominance" of the SPD and CDU. A study of the University of Berlin from 1998/99 comes to 13% for the whole of Germany, and 12% for the West and 17% for the East for right-wing extremist recruitment potential. In the 2017 Federal Election, AfD reached ~ 22% in the East and ~ 11% in the West. There are also