1980 North Rhine-Westphalia state election
11 May 1980
All 201 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout9,874,427 (80.0% Decrease 6.1pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F055060-0011A, Köln, SPD-Parteitag, Johannes Rau.jpg
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F054631-0016, Ludwigshafen, CDU-Bundesparteitag, Biedenkopf.jpg
LiselotteFuncke02.jpg
Candidate Johannes Rau Kurt Biedenkopf[lower-alpha 1] Liselotte Funcke
Party SPD CDU FDP
Last election 91 seats, 45.1% 95 seats, 47.1% 14 seats, 6.7%
Seats won 106 95 0
Seat change Increase 15 Steady 0 Decrease 14
Popular vote 4,756,103 4,240,885 489,225
Percentage 48.4% 43.2% 4.98%
Swing Increase 3.3pp Decrease 3.9pp Decrease 1.7pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election

First Rau cabinet
SPD–FDP

 Government after election

Second Rau cabinet
SPD

The 1980 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 11 May 1980 to elect the 9th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Johannes Rau.

The result was a clear victory for the SPD, who won an absolute majority of 106 seats in the Landtag with 48.4% of the vote. The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) declined to 43.2% and remained steady on 95 seats. The SPD's majority was ensured by the failure of the FDP to re-enter parliament: they fell just short of the 5% electoral threshold and lost all their seats. The SPD went on to form government alone for the first time in the state's history; Johannes Rau was re-elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 4 June.[1]

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 151 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and fifty then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.

Background

In the previous election held on 4 May 1975, the CDU remained the largest party with an improved lead over the SPD, while the FDP made small gains. The governing coalition retained its majority and was subsequently renewed. In September 1978, SPD parliamentary leader and culture minister Johannes Rau replaced Heinz Kühn as Minister-President.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 8th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Name Ideology Lead
candidate		 1975 result
Votes (%) Seats
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands		 Christian democracy Kurt Biedenkopf[lower-alpha 1] 47.1%
95 / 200
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands		 Social democracy Johannes Rau 45.1%
91 / 200
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei		 Classical liberalism Liselotte Funcke 6.7%
14 / 200

Results

PartyVotes%+/–Seats
Con.ListTotal+/–
Social Democratic Party (SPD)4,756,10348.44+3.319412106+15
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)4,240,88543.19–3.86573895±0
Free Democratic Party (FDP)489,2254.98–1.74000–14
The Greens (GRÜNE)291,3792.97New000New
German Communist Party (DKP)30,4410.31–0.22000±0
The Citizens' Party (Bürgerpartei)5,4100.06New000New
Communist League of West Germany (KBW)2,2820.02New000New
Centre Party (ZENTRUM)1,5620.02–0.08000±0
European Labour Party (EAP)6490.01±0.00000±0
Union for Concrete Environmentalism (UNU)2000.00New000New
Independent Workers' Party (UAP)1800.00±0.00000±0
European Federalist Party (EFP)920.00New000New
Green Party of Germany (GPD)380.00New000New
Independents720.00–0.010–0±0
Total9,818,518100.00–15150201+1
Valid votes9,818,51899.43
Invalid/blank votes55,9090.57
Total votes9,874,427100.00
Registered voters/turnout12,342,28280.00
Source:
  • "Electoral system of North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  • "We'll win ourselves to death". Der Spiegel (in German). 18 May 1980.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 The CDU's original lead candidate was Heinrich Köppler, who died on 20 April, shortly before the election. Biedenkopf was appointed to replace him.
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