State election in North Rhine-Westphalia 2005

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2000State election 20052010
(in %)
 %
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
44.8
37.1
6.2
6.2
2.2
3.5
Otherwise.
Gains and losses
compared to 2000
 % p
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
+7.8
-5.7
-0.9
-3.6
+2.2
+0.2
Otherwise.
    
A total of 187 seats

The elections to the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia for the 14th electoral period took place on May 22, 2005. They led to a change of power, as the previous government coalition of the SPD and the Greens lost its majority and the SPD was relegated to the opposition in North Rhine-Westphalia for the first time since 1966. The election was of federal political importance because after its outcome, the federal government announced that it would seek new elections to the Bundestag.

initial situation

In the previous state election in 2000 , the SPD won 42.8 percent (102 seats) and the CDU 37 percent (88 seats). Also represented in the state parliament were the FDP with 9.8 percent (24 seats) and the Greens with 7.1 percent (17 seats). The SPD and the Greens then formed a government coalition, first under Wolfgang Clement and later under Peer Steinbrück .

On February 3, 2004 a new version of the constituency law was passed. As a result, the number of MPs is reduced by 20 from 201 to 181, and that of constituencies from 151 to 128.

Acceding parties and candidates

1343 candidates, including 273 women, ran for election. These candidates were distributed over a total of 22 different parties : SPD , CDU , FDP , GREEN , REP , PDS , PBC , Die Tierschutzpartei , BüSo , NPD , ödp , BGD , UNABH. CITIZENS , Independent candidates , GRAUE , WASG , Die PARTTEI , Zentrum , UAP , ÖkoLi , Offensive D , LD and AMP . Only the SPD, CDU, FDP, GRÜNE, REP and WASG had put up direct candidates in all 128 constituencies.

The top candidate for the SPD was the incumbent Prime Minister Peer Steinbrück and for the CDU the opposition leader in the Landtag Jürgen Rüttgers .

Election campaign

In the election campaign, the two popular parties, the CDU and the SPD, were the main competitors. In addition, two camps had formed: the FDP together with the CDU, on the other hand the Greens with the SPD.

The election campaign was fixated on the two top candidates. The television broadcast two speeches between the opponents.

The government coalition of the SPD and the Greens was ahead of the opposition in polls at the beginning of 2005. In the spring the result was reversed, so that the CDU and FDP were now ahead. The opposition was able to maintain this lead until the election. In contrast to party preferences, Peer Steinbrück was ahead of Jürgen Rüttgers in polls regarding direct election of candidates .

The aim of the CDU and FDP was to jointly replace the red-green government coalition (and at the same time to end the SPD's 39-year participation in government), while the SPD and the Greens wanted to continue this. With a view to the upcoming federal election, the conservative-bourgeois camp saw a kind of signaling effect; the SPD relied more on Peer Steinbrück as a person because of the unfavorable polls.

The most important topics of the election campaign were the coal subsidies in mining, wind energy, the high unemployment and education issues.

During this election, the NRW-SPD had distributed advertising materials with Peer Steinbrück's portrait and his signature, on which it could be read that the SPD continued to advocate free studies, while the CDU wanted to introduce general tuition fees. At the same time, the course was subject to fees for long-term students in NRW who had exceeded the standard period of study by one and a half times or were in a second degree.

Official end result

Overview of the state election results in the constituencies
  • Eligible voters: 13,230,366
  • Voters: 8,333,363
  • Turnout: 62.99%
  • Valid votes: 8,244,014
Political party agree
completely
Share
in%
Electoral
kreisbe-
tors
Direct
MAN
date
Seats
CDU 3,696,506 44.84 128 89 89
SPD 3,058,988 37.11 128 39 74
GREEN 509.293 6.18 128 12
FDP 508.266 6.17 128 12
WASG 181.988 2.21 128
NPD 73,969 0.90 109
PDS 72,989 0.89 116
REP 67,220 0.82 128
Gray ones 18,335 0.22 25th
ödp 15,751 0.19 78
Independent Citizen 6,950 0.08 15th
BüSo 6,856 0.08 41
PBC 6.361 0.08 20th
Animal welfare 6.168 0.07 8th
family 4,291 0.05 5
POLITICAL PARTY 1,338 0.02 4th
center 1,261 0.02 4th
AMP 940 0.01 5
UAP 523 0.01 2
Offensive D 213 0.00 2
Independent Candidates 204 0.00 1
ÖkoLi 184 0.00 1
LD 100 0.00 1
BGD 56 0.00 2
Individual applicants 5,264 0.06 17th
Total 8244014 1224 128 187

Accordingly, the CDU receives three overhang mandates , the SPD receives three compensation mandates .

Distribution of seats at the end of the electoral period: CDU 89, SPD 74, FDP 12, Greens 11, non-attached 1 (converted to Die Linke)

Consequences

North Rhine-Westphalia

A few days after the election, the CDU and FDP began negotiations to form a coalition . The negotiations were conducted on the CDU side by Rüttgers, on the FDP side by Wolf and the state chairman Pinkwart . After a comparatively short period of time, the draft coalition agreement was presented to the public on June 17, 2005. On June 18, an FDP state party congress approved the contract unanimously, a CDU state party convention with only one vote against and one abstention; on June 20th the contract was signed.

The new state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia was constituted on June 8th and Regina van Dinther was elected its president. On June 22nd, Jürgen Rüttgers was elected and sworn in as Prime Minister in the state parliament with 99 of 187 votes (abstention: 1, no: 87; CDU and FDP together have 101 members). Rüttger's cabinet had been in office since June 24 ; on July 6, the new ministers were officially sworn in in the state parliament.

Federal politics

The election night

The election evening on May 22, 2005 was shaped in a special way by federal politics. As a consequence of the defeat in NRW half an hour after the polls closed announced first SPD party leader Franz Muentefering and shortly after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at a new election of the Bundestag to strive for the fall, which is a confirmation of the continuation of the Agenda 2010 designated To preserve the social reforms that had shaped the election results in North Rhine-Westphalia. The change of power in North Rhine-Westphalia took a back seat in media coverage, which was very unusual for a choice of this importance.

The days after the election

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder announced on the evening of the election that he would be asking the Bundestag a vote of confidence . As this was answered negatively, as anticipated, and the Bundestag was dissolved by the Federal President, the election for the 16th German Bundestag took place on September 18, 2005, one year earlier than planned. On May 25, 2005 the SPD executive board resigned with Harald Schartau as state chairman. Immediately after the election, Schartau had ruled out a resignation.

After this announcement, the political processes regarding the candidates and programs in the parties accelerated. The CDU preferred to announce the candidate for chancellor on May 30, 2005. The FDP made a coalition statement in favor of the CDU, while the SPD and the Greens announced without going into the election campaign. Oskar Lafontaine positioned himself to the left of the SPD , who brought into play and also achieved a left-wing alliance between the WASG and PDS, which alone had no chance.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Final result for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the official website of the state returning officer of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
  2. 1.1 Applicants in constituencies and on state reserve lists of the parties in the state elections in 2000 and 2005 by gender (PDF, 22 kB)
  3. ^ Brochure of the NRW-SPD on the subject of education. "In North Rhine-Westphalia studying will not be a question of the wallet in the future either. That is what the SPD stands for. Because the start of professional life must not begin with a mountain of debt."; Steinbrück: "We want everyone to be able to study according to their performance and talents and not the parents' wallet decides who goes to university and who doesn't."
  4. wdr.de: Studies will be expensive ( Memento from February 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) "The office of RWTH Aachen has been mailing since Monday (January 19, 2004): 7,250 fee notices are being sent."

Web links

Commons : State election in North Rhine-Westphalia 2005  - collection of images, videos and audio files