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
Turnout	8,294,235 (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%