1995 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

The 1995 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 14 May 1995 to elect the members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) majority government led by Minister-President Johannes Rau lost its majority for the first time since 1980. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with The Greens, and Rau continued in office.

1995 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

14 May 1995

All 221 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
111 seats needed for a majority
Turnout8,294,235 (64.0%)
7.8%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Johannes Rau Helmut Linssen
Party SPD CDU
Last election 122 seats, 50.0% 89 seats, 36.7%
Seats won 108 89
Seat change 14 0
Popular vote 3,816,639 3,124,758
Percentage 46.0% 37.7%
Swing 4.0% 1.0%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Bärbel Höhn Achim Rohde
Party Green FDP
Last election 12 seats, 5.0% 14 seats, 5.8%
Seats won 24 0
Seat change 12 14
Popular vote 830,861 332,634
Percentage 10.0% 4.0%
Swing 5.0% 1.8%

Minister-President before election

Johannes Rau
SPD

Elected Minister-President

Johannes Rau
SPD

Campaign and issues

Beside the influence of federal politics, where popular support for the Kohl government slowly began to decline due to growing economic difficulties, environmental issues were the main topic of the election campaign. Garzweiler II, a proposed lignite-mining project which would have forced the resettlement of local residents, was strongly criticised by The Greens.

The CDU opposition focused on topics such as education, domestic security and crime, and support for local industries, though their positions were not markedly different from those of the SPD. As such, most controversy during the campaign was between the SPD and the Greens.

Parties

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

Name Ideology Leader(s) 1990 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Johannes Rau 50.0%
122 / 237
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
Christian democracy Helmut Linssen 36.7%
89 / 237
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Classical liberalism Achim Rohde 5.8%
14 / 237
Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
Green politics Bärbel Höhn 5.0%
12 / 237

Election result

Summary of the 14 May 1995 election results for the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia

Party Votes % +/- Seats +/- Seats %
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 3,816,639 46.0 4.0 108 14 48.9
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 3,124,758 37.7 1.0 89 0 40.3
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) 830,861 10.0 5.0 24 12 10.9
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 332,634 4.0 1.8 0 14 0
The Republicans (REP) 65,509 0.8 1.0 0 ±0 0
The Grays – Gray Panthers (Graue) 58,155 0.7 0.7 0 ±0 0
Others 65,679 0.8 0 ±0 0
Total 8,294,235 100.0 221 16
Voter turnout 64.0 7.8
Popular Vote
SPD
46.02%
CDU
37.67%
B'90/GRÜNE
10.02%
FDP
4.01%
Other
2.28%
Landtag seats
SPD
48.87%
CDU
40.27%
B'90/GRÜNE
10.86%
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