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 Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament ...

. The incumbent

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

led by

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Peer Steinbrück Peer Steinbrück (born 10 January 1947) is a German politician who was the Chancellor-candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election. Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia f ...

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 Jürgen Rüttgers (born 26 June 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the 9th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010. Education Rüttgers was born in Cologne. He holds degree ...

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 The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

by making the country ungovernable for

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

's coalition. Following the CDU's loss of a majority in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

, 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 Hartz is a surname, and may refer to: *Donna Hartz, Aboriginal Australian midwife and academic *Harris Hartz (born 1947), U.S. federal judge *Harry Hartz (1896—1974), U.S. racecar driver *Jim Hartz (born 1940), U.S. television personality ...

appeared to have taken a toll. Polls did indicate that SPD state leader Steinbrück was personally more popular than CDU state leader

, 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 Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...

within the federal Schröder government.

Parties

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

Opinion polling

Election result

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 3,696,506 , align= 44.8 , align= 7.8 , align= 89 , align= 1 , align= 47.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 3,058,988 , align= 37.1 , align= 5.7 , align= 74 , align= 28 , align= 39.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

(Grüne) , align= 509,293 , align= 6.2 , align= 0.8 , align= 12 , align= 5 , align= 6.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 508,266 , align= 6.2 , align= 3.6 , align= 12 , align= 12 , align= 6.4 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=#FF8000, , align=left , Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG) , align= 181,988 , align= 2.2 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , National Democratic Party (NPD) , align= 73,969 , align= 0.9 , align= 0.9 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) , align= 72,989 , align= 0.9 , align= 0.2 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Republicans (REP) , align= 67,220 , align= 0.8 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 74,795 , align= 0.9 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 8,244,014 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 187 ! align= 44 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 63.0 ! align= 6.3 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Sources

NRW election authority

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Rhine-Westphalia State Election, 2005

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2005 elections in Germany