State government of North Rhine-Westphalia

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The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia consists of the prime minister and the state ministers .

The prime minister determines the guidelines of the state government's policy and is responsible for them (so-called guideline competence ). He manages the business of the state government in accordance with the rules of procedure . The Prime Minister is elected by the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament from among its members in the first ballot with an absolute majority ; a relative majority is sufficient for the next two ballots , the fourth ballot is held as a runoff . The other members of the government are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister; a member of the government is appointed by the prime minister as his deputy.

The office of Prime Minister ends with the meeting of a new state parliament. Since the office of the state ministers is linked to the end of the office of the prime minister, their offices also end at this point, also if the prime minister resigns or dies or if he is voted out by a constructive vote of no confidence .

Prime Minister as a member of the state parliament

An outstanding feature of the formation of a government in North Rhine-Westphalia is the imperative that the candidate for the office of Prime Minister must belong to the state parliament at least at the time of his election by the state parliament :

Article 52 sentence 1 of the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia : "The state parliament elects from among its members in a secret ballot without debate the prime minister with more than half the legal number of its members."

Due to this requirement, the designated successor to Wolfgang Clement , who had changed to the federal government , the SPD state chairman Harald Schartau , could not be elected Prime Minister in November 2002 ; he did not belong to the state parliament. Instead, the previous Minister of Finance Peer Steinbrück became the new Prime Minister.

State governments since 1946

State elections and state governments since 1947 (as of 2018)
Joachim Stamp Sylvia Löhrmann Andreas Pinkwart Bärbel Höhn Michael Vesper Herbert Schnoor Diether Posser Burkhard Hirsch Horst-Ludwig Riemer Willi Weyer Artur Sträter Willi Weyer Friedrich Middelhauve Artur Sträter Walter Menzel Karl Arnold (Politiker) Walter Menzel Armin Laschet Hannelore Kraft Jürgen Rüttgers Peer Steinbrück Wolfgang Clement Johannes Rau Heinz Kühn Franz Meyers Fritz Steinhoff Karl Arnold (Politiker) Rudolf Amelunxen


Due to state elections and government reforms, the following state governments have been in office since the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded in 1946:

Prime Minister Ruling parties from to cabinet
Rudolf Amelunxen ( independent ) 1 Center , SPD , KPD , FDP (from September 10, 1946) August 29, 1946 December 5, 1946 Cabinet Amelunxen I
CDU , center, SPD, KPD, FDP December 5, 1946 June 17, 1947 Cabinet Amelunxen II
Karl Arnold (CDU) CDU, Center, SPD, KPD (until February 7, 1948) June 17, 1947 August 1, 1950 Cabinet Arnold I
CDU August 1, 1950 September 15, 1950 Cabinet Arnold II 2
CDU, center September 15, 1950 July 27, 1954
CDU, FDP, center July 27, 1954 February 28, 1956 Arnold III cabinet
Fritz Steinhoff (SPD) SPD, FDP, center February 28, 1956 July 24, 1958 Steinhoff cabinet
Franz Meyers (CDU) CDU July 24, 1958 July 26, 1962 Meyer's I cabinet
CDU, FDP July 26, 1962 July 26, 1966 Meyer's II cabinet
CDU, FDP July 26, 1966 December 8, 1966 Meyer's III cabinet
Heinz Kühn (SPD) SPD, FDP December 8, 1966 July 28, 1970 Cabinet Kühn I
SPD, FDP July 28, 1970 4th June 1975 Cabinet Kühn II
SPD, FDP 4th June 1975 20th September 1978 Cabinet Kühn III
Johannes Rau (SPD) SPD, FDP 20th September 1978 4th June 1980 Cabinet Rau I
SPD 4th June 1980 5th June 1985 Cabinet Rau II
SPD 5th June 1985 June 12, 1990 Cabinet Rau III
SPD June 12, 1990 July 17, 1995 Cabinet Rau IV
SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens July 17, 1995 June 9, 1998 Cabinet Rau V
Wolfgang Clement (SPD) SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens June 9, 1998 June 27, 2000 Cabinet Clement I
SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens June 27, 2000 November 12, 2002 Cabinet Clement II
Peer Steinbrück (SPD) SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens November 12, 2002 June 24, 2005 Steinbrück Cabinet
Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) CDU, FDP June 24, 2005 July 15, 2010 Rüttger's cabinet
Hannelore Kraft (SPD) SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens July 15, 2010 June 21, 2012 Cabinet Kraft I 3
SPD, Alliance 90 / The Greens June 21, 2012 June 30, 2017 Cabinet Kraft II
Armin Laschet (CDU) CDU, FDP June 30, 2017 officiating Laschet cabinet
1From 1947 Rudolf Amelunxen belonged to the center .
2 Initially as a transitional cabinet with Prime Minister Karl Arnold and five CDU ministers.

See also

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