Politics of Rhineland-Palatinate
The politics of Rhineland-Palatinate takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Rhineland-Palatinate. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
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Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag. This regional parliament or legislature then elects the Minister-President and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for winegrowing (ministry of economy, traffic, agriculture and winegrowing)
List of Minister-presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate
- June 13, 1947 - July 9, 1947: Wilhelm Boden, CDU
- 1947 - 1969: Peter Altmeier, CDU
- 1969 - 1976: Helmut Kohl, CDU
- 1976 - 1988: Bernhard Vogel, CDU
- 1988 - 1991: Carl-Ludwig Wagner, CDU
- 1991 - 1994: Rudolf Scharping, SPD
- 1994 - 2013: Kurt Beck, SPD
- 2013 - incumbent Malu Dreyer, SPD
Latest election
In the election, the SPD suffered large loss, falling by 10% of the vote and winning only one seat more than the Christian Democratic Union. The main winners were Alliance '90/The Greens, who surged to over 15% of the vote, having failed to even break through the 5% threshold in 2006. In 2011, however, the Free Democratic Party failed to break through 5%, and thus lost the 10 seats they'd won in 2006.
![](../I/Landtagswahl_2021_Rheinland-Pfalz_Erststimmenergebnis.svg.png.webp)
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Party | Constituency | Party list | Total seats |
+/– | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | ||||
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) | 618,176 | 32.2 | 28 | 690,962 | 35.7 | ![]() |
11 | 39 | ![]() | |
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) | 604,088 | 31.4 | 23 | 535,318 | 27.7 | ![]() |
8 | 31 | ![]() | |
Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) | 210,022 | 10.9 | 1 | 179,860 | 9.3 | ![]() |
9 | 10 | ![]() | |
Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 145,383 | 7.6 | 0 | 160,293 | 8.3 | ![]() |
9 | 9 | ![]() | |
Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 115,530 | 6.0 | 0 | 106,809 | 5.5 | ![]() |
6 | 6 | ![]() | |
Free Voters (FW) | 143,940 | 7.5 | 0 | 103,619 | 5.4 | ![]() |
6 | 6 | ![]() | |
The Left (LINKE) | 54,139 | 2.8 | 0 | 48,206 | 2.5 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() | |
Human Environment Animal Protection | – | – | – | 32,527 | 1.7 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
Die PARTEI | 8,402 | 0.4 | 0 | 20,519 | 1.1 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
Volt Germany | 1,497 | 0.1 | 0 | 19,286 | 1.0 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
Climate List RLP | 9,477 | 0.5 | 0 | 13,681 | 0.7 | New | 0 | 0 | New | |
Ecological Democratic Party | 8,198 | 0.4 | 0 | 13,406 | 0.7 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() | |
Pirate Party Germany | 1,820 | 0.1 | 0 | 10,393 | 0.5 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | ![]() | |
Grassroots Democracy Party of Germany | 229 | 0.0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | New | |
Independents | 1,678 | 0.1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | ![]() | |
Total | 1,922,579 | 100.0 | 52 | 1,934,879 | 100.0 | – | 49 | 101 | ![]() | |
Invalid/blank votes | 34,770 | 1.8 | – | 22,470 | 1.1 | – | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 3,042,414 | 64.3 | – | 3,042,414 | 64.3 | ![]() | ||||
Source: State Returning Officer |