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 (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Peer Steinbrück was defeated. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). CDU leader Jürgen Rüttgers was subsequently elected Minister-President. This marked the first period of non-SPD government in the state since 1966.

2005 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

22 May 2005
All 187 seats of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 94 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	8,244,014 (63.0%) 6.3%
Leader Jürgen Rüttgers Peer Steinbrück Party CDU SPD Last election 88 seats, 37.0% 102 seats, 42.8% Seats won 89 74 Seat change 1 28 Popular vote 3,696,506 3,058,988 Percentage 44.8% 37.1% Swing 7.8% 5.7%   Leader Bärbel Höhn Andreas Pinkwart Party Green FDP Last election 17 seats, 7.1% 24 seats, 9.8% Seats won 12 12 Seat change 5 12 Popular vote 509,293 508,266 Percentage 6.2% 6.2% Swing 0.9% 3.6%
Minister-President before election Peer Steinbrück SPD Elected Minister-President Jürgen Rüttgers CDU

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 (from 5-11% depending on agency) 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.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2000 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Peer Steinbrück	42.8%	102 / 231
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Jürgen Rüttgers	37.0%	88 / 231
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Andreas Pinkwart	9.8%	24 / 231
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Bärbel Höhn	7.1%	17 / 231

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	FDP	Grüne	WASG	Others	Lead
2005 state election	22 May 2005	–	37.1	44.8	6.2	6.2	2.2	3.5	7.7
Forsa	18 May 2005	1,326	36	43	7	7	–	7	7
Infratest dimap	12–13 May 2005	1,000	37	43	7.5	7.5	–	5	6
Infas	10–12 May 2005	750	36	43	8	7	–	6	7
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	9–12 May 2005	1,062	35	44	7	9	–	5	9
Infratest dimap	10–11 May 2005	1,000	37	43	7	8	2	3	6
Forsa	26 Apr–6 May 2005	1,017	34	45	7	7	2	5	11
Infratest dimap	2–3 May 2005	1,010	35	45	7	8	–	5	10
Emnid	3 May 2005	?	34	44	7	9	2	4	10
Forsa	25–29 Apr 2005	1,109	35	45	7	7	2	4	10
Infratest dimap	26–28 Apr 2005	1,000	34	45	7	9	–	5	11
Emnid	26 Apr 2005	1,000	34	45	6	10	–	5	11
Emnid	29 Mar–18 Apr 2005	1,053	35	45	6	9	–	5	10
Infratest dimap	12–14 Apr 2005	1,000	35	45	7	8	–	5	10
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	5–7 Apr 2005	1,039	36	46	6	8	–	4	10
Infratest dimap	4–5 Apr 2005	1,000	34	45	7	9	–	5	11
Emnid	24 Mar–3 Apr 2005	1,063	35	45	7	9	–	4	10
Forsa	30 Mar–5 Apr 2005	1,009	36	45	5	8	–	5	9
Infratest dimap	15–17 Mar 2005	1,000	35	42	7	10	1	5	7
Emnid	2–14 Mar 2005	1,058	35	43	7	10	–	5	8
Infratest dimap	1–3 Mar 2005	1,000	35	43	7	9	–	6	8
Forsa	21 Feb–1 Mar 2005	1,012	36	42	7	9	–	6	6
Infratest dimap	9–10 Feb 2005	1,000	37	39	7	9	–	8	2
Forsa	10–12 Jan 2005	1,302	39	39	7	9	–	6	Tie
Infratest dimap	4–6 Jan 2005	1,010	38	40	7	10	–	5	2
Emnid	3 Dec 2004	1,000	33	40	8	13	–	6	7
Forsa	2 Dec 2004	?	36	39	8	11	–	6	3
Infratest dimap	29 Oct–4 Nov 2004	1,075	36	40	8	11	–	5	4
Infratest dimap	13–15 Sep 2004	1,000	30	43	7	13	–	7	13
Emnid	8–9 Sep 2004	1,000	30	43	7	11	–	9	13
Infratest dimap	24–26 Aug 2004	1,000	32	42	7	12	3	4	10
Emnid	9 Aug 2004	1,000	28	44	8	12	–	8	16
Psephos	31 May–4 Jun 2004	1,000	33	47	6	10	–	4	14
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	24 Apr 2004	?	29	49	5	12	–	5	20
Psephos	18 Apr 2004	1,003	34	47	7	8	–	4	13
dimap	2–8 Mar 2004	1,007	32	48	6	10	–	4	16
dimap	20–25 Jan 2004	1,001	32	48	8	9	–	3	16
dimap	19 Jan 2004	?	33	48	7	8	–	4	15
Psephos	2 Nov 2003	?	31	47	7	10	–	5	16
dimap	30 Sep–2 Oct 2003	1,050	34	47	6	10	–	3	13
Infratest dimap	1 Jul 2003	1,000	33	47	7	10	–	3	14
Emnid	13 Jun 2003	?	36	45	6	10	–	3	9
Forsa	26–30 May 2003	1,508	37	45	6	9	–	3	8
Infratest dimap	26–27 May 2003	1,000	33	45	8	11	–	3	12
dimap	19 May 2003	1,005	32	48	7	9	–	4	16
dimap	11–14 Mar 2003	1,000	33	48	6	10	–	3	15
Psephos	9 Feb 2003	1,005	33	46	8	10	–	3	7
Emnid	9–14 Jan 2003	1,000	36	45	6	9	–	4	9
Psephos	10 Nov 2002	?	39	43	8	7	–	3	4
Psephos	15 Apr 2002	?	36	38	12	8	–	6	2
Psephos	20 Jan 2002	?	39	41	10	6	–	4	2
Psephos	30 Sep 2001	?	43	38	10	6	–	3	5
Psephos	13 May 2001	?	44	35	11	7	–	3	9
Psephos	14 Jan 2001	?	41	38	9	8	–	4	3
2000 state election	14 May 2000	–	42.8	37.0	9.8	7.1	–	3.3	5.8

Election result

Summary of the 22 May 2005 election results for the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	3,696,506	44.8	7.8	89	1	47.6
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	3,058,988	37.1	5.7	74	28	39.6
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	509,293	6.2	0.8	12	5	6.4
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	508,266	6.2	3.6	12	12	6.4
	Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG)	181,988	2.2	New	0	New	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	73,969	0.9	0.9	0	±0	0
	Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)	72,989	0.9	0.2	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	67,220	0.8	0.3	0	±0	0
	Others	74,795	0.9		0	±0	0
Total		8,244,014	100.0		187	44
Voter turnout			63.0	6.3

Popular Vote CDU   44.84% SPD   37.11% B'90/GRÜNE   6.18% FDP   6.17% WASG   2.21% Other   3.51%

Landtag seats CDU   47.59% SPD   39.57% B'90/GRÜNE   6.42% FDP   6.42%

Sources

NRW election authority

References