State election in North Rhine-Westphalia 1975
The election to the Landtag of the 8th electoral term of North Rhine-Westphalia took place on May 4th 1975. At the same time, local elections were held for the first time since the extensive completion of the territorial reform in North Rhine-Westphalia . However, the constituency division for the state elections had not yet been adjusted to the new administrative boundaries in most regions, so that very many constituency boundaries cut through the boundaries of municipalities and districts.
As in 1970, the top candidate of the CDU was Heinrich Köppler . Prime Minister Heinz Kühn ran again for the SPD . The FDP's new top candidate was Economics Minister Horst Ludwig Riemer , and Willi Weyer , the long-standing FDP state chairman and interior minister , withdrew from state politics. Major national political issues were missing from the election campaign. After the Union had made significant gains in the state elections in Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Hesse in 1974 and the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia had already surpassed the SPD in the state elections in 1970, it was long questioned whether the SPD / FDP coalition would be theirs Majority would be able to defend. Shortly before the election, the polls for the social-liberal coalition rose again because of the improving economic situation.
The voter turnout was extraordinarily high at 86.1%, the highest value ever achieved in a North Rhine-Westphalian state election. The CDU was able to increase its share of the vote slightly compared to 1970 and achieved its second-best state election result to date with 47.1%, but clearly missed its goal of replacing the social-liberal coalition with 95 of the 200 seats. This achieved a majority of 10 seats with slight losses for the SPD and gains for the FDP.
- Eligible voters: 12,035,289
- Voters: 10,358,108
- Turnout: 86.06%
- Valid votes: 10,262,205
Political party | agree completely |
Share in% |
Electoral kreisbe- tors |
Direct MAN date |
Seats |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CDU | 4,828,554 | 47.05 | 150 | 76 [1] | 95 |
SPD | 4,630,995 | 45.13 | 150 | 74 | 91 |
FDP | 689.623 | 6.72 | 150 | 14th | |
DKP | 54,777 | 0.53 | 148 | ||
NPD | 36,281 | 0.35 | 149 | ||
center | 10,487 | 0.10 | 58 | ||
KPD | 7,711 | 0.08 | 52 | ||
KPD / ML | 1,731 | 0.02 | 19th | ||
UAP | 648 | 0.01 | 13 | ||
EAP | 311 | 0.00 | 14th | ||
Individual applicants | 1,087 | 0.01 | 7th | ||
Total | 10.262.205 | 910 | 150 | 200 | |
[1] In constituency 59 (Wuppertal IV), the SPD and CDU had the same vote . The CDU applicant Manfred Sanden won by lot. |
Heinz Kühn was re-elected Prime Minister on June 4 with 105 votes, Heinrich Köppler received 94 votes, and a CDU MP was absent. The new cabinet was sworn in on the same day. After Kühn's resignation, Johannes Rau was elected as the new Prime Minister on September 20, 1978 . Shortly before Kühn's resignation, the state government suffered two setbacks in 1978: Finance Minister Friedrich Halstenberg resigned because of an affair involving allegations of corruption against the head of WestLB , Ludwig Poullain . A referendum supported by the CDU against the introduction of the cooperative school decided by the state parliament was supported by 29.8% of those entitled to vote (20% were required for a successful referendum at the time). The state parliament then reversed the introduction of the cooperative school and thus avoided a referendum .
See also
- Cabinet Kühn III
- Cabinet Rau I
- List of members of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (8th electoral term)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The time 19/1975
- ↑ Minutes of the Landtag session of June 4, 1975 (PDF; 374 kB)