The North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005, will be conducted on May 22, 2005, to elect members to the Landtag (state legislature) of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

Issues and Campaign

Leading up to the election, the state is run by a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Greens, with Peer Steinbrück as Minister-President.

For much of 2004, there had been speculation that if the opposition Christian Democratic Union were to win this election, they would gain a two-thirds majority in the national upper house, the Bundesrat, and force a new election for the Bundestag by making the country ungovernable for Gerhard Schroeder's coalition. Following the CDU's loss of a majority in Saxony, this risk was alleviated; however, North Rhine-Westphalia has been governed by the SPD alone or in coalition since 1966, so a defeat there would be a negative sign for the SPD ahead of the national election in 2006.

As of mid-April, polling in the state indicates a consistent lead of 5-9% for a coalition of the CDU and the FDP. In general, high German unemployment and the unpopularity of the national SPD and the Hartz IV reforms appear to have taken a toll. Polls do indicate that SPD state leader Steinbrück is personally more popular than CDU state leader Jürgen Rüttgers, though.

Results

Preliminary results should be available the evening of the election.

Post-election

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer