2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

The 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 14 May 2017 to elect the members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Hannelore Kraft was defeated. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). CDU leader Armin Laschet was subsequently elected Minister-President.^[1][2]

2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 2012 14 May 2017 2022 →
All 199 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 100 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	8,577,221 (65.2% 5.6 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Armin Laschet Hannelore Kraft Christian Lindner Party CDU SPD FDP Last election 67 seats, 26.3% 99 seats, 39.1% 22 seats, 8.6% Seats won 72 69 28 Seat change 5 30 6 Popular vote 2,796,683 2,649,205 1,065,307 Percentage 33.0% 31.2% 12.6% Swing 6.7 pp 7.9 pp 4.0 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Candidate Marcus Pretzell Sylvia Löhrmann Party AfD Greens Last election Did not exist 29 seats, 11.3% Seats won 16 14 Seat change 16 15 Popular vote 626,756 539,062 Percentage 7.4% 6.4% Swing New party 4.9 pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election Second Kraft cabinet SPD–Green Government after election Laschet cabinet CDU–FDP

This election was the last election in which an incumbent Minister-President was defeated until the 2022 Saarland state election.

Parties

The lead candidates after a TV debate.

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

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2012 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Hannelore Kraft	39.1%	99 / 237
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Armin Laschet	26.3%	67 / 237
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Sylvia Löhrmann	11.3%	29 / 237
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Christian Lindner	8.6%	22 / 237
	Piraten	Pirate Party Germany Piratenpartei Deutschland	Pirate politics	Michele Marsching	7.8%	20 / 237

Opinion polling

Party polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SPD	CDU	Grüne	FDP	Piraten	Linke	AfD	Others	Lead
2017 state election	14 May 2017	–	31.2	33.0	6.4	12.6	1.0	4.9	7.4	3.5	1.8
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	8–11 May 2017	2,402	31	32	6.5	13.5	–	6	6.5	4.5	1
YouGov	8–10 May 2017	1,017	30	31	7	9	2	8	9	4	1
INSA	3–8 May 2017	1,139	33	30	7	13	–	5	7	5	3
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	2–4 May 2017	1,032	32	32	7.5	12	–	6	6	4.5	Tie
Infratest dimap	2–3 May 2017	1,000	32	31	7	13	–	5	8	4	1
Forsa	20–25 Apr 2017	1,003	35	29	6	12	–	6	7	5	6
YouGov	12–19 Apr 2017	1,051	36	27	6	7	2	8	11	3	9
Infratest dimap	18–20 Apr 2017	1,003	34	34	6	10	–	5	8	3	Tie
INSA	30 Mar–4 Apr 2017	1,000	37	28	6	10	–	5	10	4	9
Infratest dimap	14–16 Mar 2017	1,001	37	30	6	9	–	5	9	4	7
Forsa	20 Feb–10 Mar 2017	1,040	40	26	6	11	–	5	7	5	14
INSA	22 Feb–3 Mar 2017	1,199	38	27	7	10	–	4	11	3	11
Infratest dimap	14–16 Feb 2017	1,002	37	30	7	7	–	6	10	3	7
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	6–8 Feb 2017	1,116	36	32	7	8	–	5	9	3	4
YouGov	13–20 Jan 2017	1,072	31	31	11	7	1	5	12	2	Tie
Forsa	9–20 Jan 2017	1,072	35	29	8	9	–	6	8	5	6
Emnid	19 Dec 2016–18 Jan 2017	1,070	32	30	10	8	–	7	10	3	2
Infratest dimap	25–27 Oct 2016	1,002	32	32	12	7	–	5	9	3	Tie
YouGov	31 Aug–7 Sep 2016	1,022	34	28	10	9	–	5	11	?	6
Mentefactum	30 Aug–6 Sep 2016	1,004	31	27	11	8	–	5	13	3	4
Infratest dimap	17–20 May 2016	1,002	31	31	10	8	–	6	12	2	Tie
INSA	21–28 Apr 2016	1,097	29	32	13	7.5	–	5.5	9	4	3
Infratest dimap	16–18 Feb 2016	1,002	31	33	9	7	–	7	10	3	2
Infratest dimap	8–10 Dec 2015	1,000	34	35	10	6	–	5	5	5	1
Forsa	8–27 Nov 2015	1,211	39	29	10	7	2	5	4	4	10
YouGov	11–19 Nov 2015	1,022	34	30	11	5	1	5	9	5	4
Infratest dimap	1–3 Sep 2015	1,001	34	36	11	5	–	6	3	5	2
Infratest dimap	16–18 Jun 2015	1,000	36	35	10	6	1	5	4	3	1
Forsa	18–28 May 2015	1,097	36	32	11	9	–	4	3	5	4
INSA	21–22 May 2015	500	34	38	12	6	1	6	2	1	4
YouGov	3–10 Dec 2014	1,015	34	35	12	5	2	5	7	2	1
Infratest dimap	2–4 Dec 2014	1,000	35	36	10	5	1	5	5	3	1
Forsa	3–10 Nov 2014	1,082	36	33	10	4	2	5	6	?	3
Forsa	20–29 Aug 2014	1,506	39	32	10	5	3	4	4	?	7
YouGov	May 2014	1,006	39	34	10	5	2	5	?	?	5
Infratest dimap	5–8 May 2014	1,000	37	36	10	5	2	5	3	2	1
YouGov	25 Nov–1 Dec 2013	1,055	38	34	10	4	?	5	?	?	4
Infratest dimap	3–5 Dec 2013	1,000	37	38	8	4	3	5	3	2	1
YouGov	5–16 Sep 2013	1,051	38	35	11	4	2	4	?	?	3
Infratest dimap	3–5 Sep 2013	1,009	40	36	9	4	3	4	2	2	4
Infratest dimap	21–23 May 2013	1,001	39	35	14	4	2	3	–	3	4
YouGov	12–22 Apr 2013	1,104	42	31	12	6	2	3	–	4	11
Infratest dimap	11–14 Dec 2012	1,001	40	32	12	5	4	4	–	3	8
YouGov	4–24 Sep 2012	1,020	39	30	13	5	5	4	–	4	9
YouGov	1–11 Jun 2012	1,061	38	29	12	7	7	3	–	?	9
2012 state election	13 May 2012	–	39.1	26.3	11.3	8.6	7.8	2.5	–	4.3	12.8

Minister-President polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date			Lead
		Hannelore Kraft SPD	Armin Laschet CDU
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	14 May 2017	48	37	11
Infratest dimap	14 May 2017	49	38	11
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	11 May 2017	46	38	8
YouGov	11 May 2017	34	21	13
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	5 May 2017	51	33	18
Infratest dimap	4 May 2017	49	28	21
Forsa	28 April 2017	49	25	24
YouGov	25 April 2017	42	21	21
Infratest dimap	23 April 2017	53	31	22
Infratest dimap	19 March 2017	57	22	35
Forsa	15 March 2017	55	22	33
Infratest dimap	19 February 2017	58	26	32
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	10 February 2017	55	29	26
YouGov	27 January 2017	46	16	30
YouGov	30 October 2016	56	20	36
Mentefactum	11 September 2016	55	30	25
Infratest dimap	22 May 2016	58	28	30
Infratest dimap	13 December 2015	61	21	40
Forsa	2 December 2015	63	18	45
YouGov	26 November 2015	50	15	35
Infratest dimap	21 June 2015	64	17	47
YouGov	18 December 2014	48	19	29
Infratest dimap	7 December 2014	59	18	41
Infratest dimap	11 May 2014	61	18	43

Results

The CDU became the largest party with 33% of the vote. The governing SPD and Greens suffered a 13-point swing between them, the latter losing half their seats. The FDP achieved their best ever result in the state at 12.6%, and AfD debuted at 7.4%. The Pirates collapsed to just 1% of the vote and were ousted from the Landtag. The Left doubled their vote share to 4.9%, but fell just short of the threshold.

69 14 28 72 16
Party		Constituency				Party list				Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	Votes	%	+/–	Seats
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	3,242,524	38.35	+5.64	72	2,796,683	32.95	+6.64	0	72	+5
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,919,073	34.52	–7.77	56	2,649,205	31.21	–7.92	13	69	–30
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	723,725	8.56	+3.77	0	1,065,307	12.55	+3.95	28	28	+6
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	460,479	5.45	New	0	626,756	7.38	New	16	16	New
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	509,571	6.03	–3.27	0	539,062	6.35	–5.00	14	14	–15
	The Left (LINKE)	414,594	4.90	+2.31	0	415,936	4.90	+2.41	0	0	±0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	118,847	1.41	–6.53	0	80,780	0.95	–6.87	0	0	–20
	Action Party for Animal Protection (hier!)					59,747	0.70	New	0	0	New
	Die PARTEI	25,923	0.31	+0.23	0	54,990	0.65	+0.36	0	0	±0
	Free Voters	8,667	0.10	–0.04	0	33,083	0.39	+0.16	0	0	±0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)					28,723	0.34	–0.17	0	0	±0
	Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)					17,421	0.21	+0.07	0	0	±0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	7,208	0.09	+0.07	0	13,288	0.16	+0.06	0	0	±0
	Alliance of German Democrats					12,688	0.15	New	0	0	New
	V-Partei3					10,013	0.12	New	0	0	New
	New Start C (Aufbruch C)	2,919	0.03	New	0	9,636	0.11	New	0	0	New
	From now... Democracy by Referendum (Volksabstimmung)	2,099	0.02	+0.01	0	8,386	0.10	New	0	0	±0
	Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD)	2,496	0.03	New	0	7,707	0.09	New	0	0	New
	The Violets (VIOLETTEN)					7,171	0.08	New	0	0	New
	Youth and Development Party of Germany (JED)					7,054	0.08	New	0	0	New
	The Republicans (REP)	1,257	0.01	New	0	6,597	0.08	New	0	0	New
	Party for Health Research (Gesundheitsforschung)					5,964	0.07	New	0	0	New
	Basic Income Alliance (BGE)					5,260	0.06	New	0	0	New
	Beautiful Life (Schöner Leben)					5,162	0.06	New	0	0	New
	Democratic Citizens Germany (DBD)					4,742	0.06	New	0	0	New
	The Right (RECHTE)	1,990	0.02	New	0	3,589	0.04	New	0	0	New
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	1,182	0.01	New	0	3,336	0.04	New	0	0	New
	German Communist Party (DKP)	2,416	0.03	New	0	2,899	0.03	New	0	0	New
	Free Citizens Initiative/Free Voters (FBI)					2,877	0.03	–0.09	0	0	±0
	Independent Voter Group "BRD"	634	0.01	New	0	2,002	0.02	New	0	0	New
	PAN – the Independents					1,349	0.02	New	0	0	New
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	291	0.00	–0.02	0					0	±0
	Liberal Democrats (LD)	99	0.00	±0.00	0					0	±0
	Liberal Conservative Reformers (LKR)	91	0.00	New	0					0	New
	Independents	9,105	0.11	+0.08	0					0	±0
Total		8,455,190	100.00	–	128	8,487,413	100.00	–	71	199	–38
Valid votes		8,455,190	98.58			8,487,413	98.95
Invalid/blank votes		122,031	1.42			89,808	1.05
Total votes		8,577,221	100.00			8,577,221	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,164,887	65.15			13,164,887	65.15
Source: