State election in North Rhine-Westphalia 1970
The election to the state parliament for the 7th electoral term of North Rhine-Westphalia took place on June 14, 1970. It was the first election since the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 years and the extension of the legislative period of the state parliament to 5 years.
Starting position
In the state elections in 1966 , the SPD narrowly missed an absolute majority with 99 of the 200 seats. Initially, the CDU / FDP coalition was continued. But already on December 8, 1966, Heinz Kühn was elected Prime Minister by a constructive vote of no confidence , who has since governed with an SPD / FDP coalition.
The top candidate for the SPD was again Prime Minister Heinz Kühn, for the FDP Interior Minister Willi Weyer . The CDU's top candidate was the chairman of the CDU regional association for the Rhineland, Heinrich Köppler , after Josef Hermann Dufhues , who was originally intended for this purpose, had renounced for health reasons.
Result
The SPD / FDP coalition was able to maintain its majority despite the loss of seats. After the clear defeat of 1966, the CDU was again just the strongest parliamentary group. The FDP lost votes, but remained in contrast to the simultaneous state elections in Lower Saxony and Saarland over 5%.
The result at the state level in detail:
- Eligible voters: 11,890,609
- Voters: 8,739,940
- Turnout: 73.50%
- Valid votes: 8,677,827
| Political party | agree completely |
Share in% |
Electoral kreisbe- tors |
Direct MAN date |
Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | 4,020,186 | 46.33 | 150 | 65 | 95 |
| SPD | 3,996,808 | 46.06 | 150 | 85 | 94 |
| FDP | 478.420 | 5.51 | 150 | 11 | |
| NPD | 94.043 | 1.08 | 142 | ||
| DKP | 76,964 | 0.89 | 150 | ||
| center | 9,902 | 0.11 | 29 | ||
| UAP | 1,504 | 0.02 | 25th | ||
| Total | 8,677,827 | 796 | 150 | 200 |
consequences
The SPD / FDP coalition was continued. It initially had a mathematical 105 seats and a majority of 10 seats. The FDP faction was divided, however. The FDP MPs Heinz Lange , Wilhelm Maas and Franz Mader were co-founders of the National Liberal Action (NLA) and refused to re-elect Heinz Kühn as Prime Minister.
Kühn was re-elected Prime Minister on July 28 with just 101 votes. The CDU parliamentary group leader Heinrich Köppler received 95 votes and four abstentions. Shortly thereafter, Lange, Maas and Mader broke completely with the FDP, whose faction they left on October 9, 1970. They all joined the CDU during the electoral period, since the NLA and the German Union that had emerged from it remained meaningless. The FDP only had 8 seats and the SPD / FDP coalition had 102 of the 200 seats. The distribution of seats at the end of the electoral term was: CDU 98, SPD 94, FDP 8.
See also
- Cabinet Kühn II
- List of state electoral districts in North Rhine-Westphalia 1966–1970
- List of members of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (7th electoral term)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Announcement of the official result in the Ministerialblatt for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia of July 2, 1970 (PDF; 916 kB)
- ↑ Minutes of the state parliament session on July 28, 1970 (PDF; 631 kB)
- ↑ The time 42/1970
