2005 North Rhine-Westphalia state election


The 2005 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 22 May 2005 to elect the members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party and The Greens led by Minister-President Peer Steinbrück was defeated. The Christian Democratic Union became the largest party and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party. CDU leader Jürgen Rüttgers was subsequently elected Minister-President. This marked the first period of non-SPD government in the state since 1966.

Campaign and issues

Leading up to the election, the state was governed by a coalition of the SPD and the Greens, with Peer Steinbrück as Minister-President.
For much of 2004, there had been speculation that if the opposition Christian Democratic Union were to win this election, they would gain a two-thirds majority in the national upper house, the Bundesrat, and force a new election for the Bundestag by making the country ungovernable for Gerhard Schröder's coalition. Following the CDU's loss of a majority in Saxony, this risk was alleviated; however, North Rhine-Westphalia had been governed by the SPD alone or in coalition since 1966, so a defeat there would be perceived as a grave blow to the SPD.
Leading up to the election, polling in the state indicated a consistent lead for a coalition of the CDU and the FDP over the SPD-Green share. In general, high German unemployment and the unpopularity of the national SPD and the Hartz IV reforms appeared to have taken a toll. Polls did indicate that SPD state leader Steinbrück was personally more popular than CDU state leader Jürgen Rüttgers, though.
This election marked the debut of Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative, a left-wing party including many former SPD members who opposed perceived neoliberalism within the federal Schröder government.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Opinion polling

Election result

Summary of the 22 May 2005 election results for the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
! colspan="2" | Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
! Seats %
! colspan=8|
! align=right colspan=2| Total
! align=right| 8,244,014
! align=right| 100.0
! align=right|
! align=right| 187
! align=right| 44
! align=right|
! align=right colspan=2| Voter turnout
! align=right|
! align=right| 63.0
! align=right| 6.3
! align=right|
! align=right|
! align=right|