city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 6 May 2018, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 7,665 | 34.0 | 2.5 | 15 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 6,163 | 27.4 | 6.6 | 12 | 2 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 3,686 | 16.4 | 3.9 | 7 | 2 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 1,318 | 5.9 | 1.7 | 2 | 1 |- | | align=left| Alliance for Citizens in Schleswig-Holstein (BfB) | 1,293 | 5.7 | 0.4 | 2 | ±0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| The Left (Die Linke) | 959 | 4.3 | 1.3 | 2 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| National Democratic Party (NPD) | 879 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 2 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Liberal Conservative Reformers (LKR) | 440 | 2.0 | New | 1 | New |- | colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey| |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) | 120 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0 | 1 |- ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! 22,523 ! 98.8 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 263 ! 1.2 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Total ! 22,786 ! 100.0 ! ! 43 ! ±0 |- ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! 64,839 ! 35.1 ! 4.7 ! ! |- | colspan=7| Source: City of Neumünster |} Population development Twin towns – sister cities Neumünster is twinned with: Gravesham, England, United Kingdom Koszalin, Poland Parchim, Germany Notable people Vicelinus (1086–1154), Apostle of Holstein and Bishop of Oldenburg Ernst Eduard Hudemann (1811–1889), educator, philologist and classical historian Eduard Sachau (1845–1930), orientalist Rudolf Bülck (1880−1954), librarian Karl Schlabow (1891–1984), archaeologist, museum director and conservator Walter Bartram (1893–1971), former Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein Hans Schnoor (1893–1976), musicologist Fritz C. Mauch (1905–1940), film editor and assistant director Eduard Müller (1911–1943), Catholic priest, one of the Lübeck martyrs Herbert Martin Hagen (1913–1999), SS Stormbolder and convicted war criminal Annemarie Auer (1913–2002), author and literary scholar Gerhard Wessel (1913–2002), President of the Federal Intelligence Bureau 1968–1978 Horst Mittelstaedt (1923–2016), biologist cyberneticist and university lecturer Detlev Blanke (1941–2016), University lecturer for interlinguistics at the Humboldt-Universität