1975 North Rhine-Westphalia state election
The 1975 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 4 May 1975 to elect the 8th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Heinz Kühn.
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All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 10,358,108 (86.1%  12.6pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results for the single-member constituencies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) remained the largest party and improved its lead over the SPD, but failed to win an overall majority. The incumbent coalition retained the 105-seat majority it had won at the previous election, with a net shift of three seats from the SPD to the FDP. Turnout increased dramatically to 86.1%, the highest ever recorded in the state. The SPD–FDP coalition was renewed and Heinz Kühn was re-elected as Minister-President by the Landtag on 4 June.[1]
Electoral system
The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 150 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and fifty then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.
Background
In the previous election held on 14 June 1970, the CDU returned as the largest party with a narrow one-seat lead over the SPD. The SPD and FDP both suffered losses, but retained a small majority. The governing coalition between the two was subsequently renewed.
Parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 7th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.
| Name | Ideology | Lead candidate |
1970 result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands |
Christian democracy | Heinrich Köppler | 46.3% | 95 / 200 | |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands |
Social democracy | Heinz Kühn | 46.1% | 94 / 200 | |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei |
Classical liberalism | Willi Weyer | 5.5% | 11 / 200 | |
Results
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con. | List | Total | +/– | ||||||
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 4,828,554 | 47.05 | +0.72 | 76 | 19 | 95 | ±0 | ||
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 4,630,995 | 45.13 | –0.93 | 74 | 17 | 91 | –3 | ||
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 689,623 | 6.72 | +1.21 | 0 | 14 | 14 | +3 | ||
| German Communist Party (DKP) | 54,777 | 0.53 | –0.36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| National Democratic Party (NPD) | 36,281 | 0.35 | –0.73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Centre Party (ZENTRUM) | 10,487 | 0.10 | –0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Communist Party of Germany (AO) | 7,711 | 0.08 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Communist Party of Germany/M–L | 1,731 | 0.02 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Independent Workers' Party (UAP) | 648 | 0.01 | –0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| European Labour Party (EAP) | 311 | 0.00 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Independents | 1,087 | 0.01 | New | 0 | – | 0 | New | ||
| Total | 10,262,205 | 100.00 | – | 150 | 50 | 200 | ±0 | ||
| Valid votes | 10,262,205 | 99.07 | |||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 95,903 | 0.93 | |||||||
| Total votes | 10,358,108 | 100.00 | |||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 12,035,289 | 86.06 | |||||||
| Source: | |||||||||
External links
- "Electoral system of North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
References
- "Minutes of the Landtag session of 28 July 1970" (PDF). Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). 4 June 1975.
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