2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election

The 2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election to elect the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate was held on 13 March 2016, the same day as the Baden-Württemberg state election and Saxony-Anhalt state election. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Malu Dreyer was defeated due to severe losses by the Greens, dropping to 5th largest party and nearly losing representation. To ensure a majority government with the Greens, the SPD (political color: red) and Greens carried on as a "traffic light coalition" with support from the Free Democratic Party (FDP, political color: yellow). Dreyer was subsequently re-elected as Minister-President.

Following the 2015 European migrant crisis, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) debuted as third largest party, but at 12.6% not as strong as in the other two state elections.

Parties The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. Name Ideology Leader(s) 2011 result Votes (%) Seats SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Malu Dreyer 35.7% CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Julia Klöckner 35.2% Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics Eveline Lemke 15.4%

Opinion polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize SPD CDU Grüne FDP Linke Piraten AfD Others Lead 2016 state election 13 Mar 2016 – 36.2 31.8 5.3 6.2 2.8 0.8 12.6 4.2 4.4 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 7–10 Mar 2016 1,693 36 35 5.5 7 3 – 9 4.5 1 YouGov 2–9 Mar 2016 1,003 35 36 6 6 4 – 11 2 1 Forsa 2–8 Mar 2016 1,002 35 35 6 6 4 – 9 5 Tie INSA 1–5 Mar 2016 1,000 35 35 7 5 3 – 9 6 Tie Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 29 Feb–3 Mar 2016 1,011 34 35 6 6 4 – 10 5 1 Infratest dimap 1–2 Mar 2016 1,004 34 36 7 5 4 – 9 5 2 Infratest dimap 24–27 Feb 2016 1,000 32 36 8 6 4 – 9 5 4 INSA 25–27 Feb 2016 1,001 32.5 35 10 6 4 – 8.5 4 2.5 INSA 19–20 Feb 2016 1,032 33 35 9 7 4 – 8.5 3.5 2 GESS Phone & Field 12–20 Feb 2016 1,002 33 37 8 5 3 – 9 5 4 Infratest dimap 4–9 Feb 2016 1,000 31 37 8 6 4 – 9 5 6 INSA 26 Jan–1 Feb 2016 1,000 32 36 10 6 3 – 8 5 4 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 19–21 Jan 2016 1,034 31 38 7 5 5 – 9 5 7 Infratest dimap 6–11 Jan 2016 1,001 31 37 9 5 5 – 8 5 6 Infratest dimap 3–7 Dec 2015 1,000 31 39 9 5 5 – 7 4 8 INSA 17–24 Nov 2015 1,003 31.0 38.5 11.0 4.5 3.5 – 7.0 4.5 7.5 GESS Phone & Field 6–16 Nov 2015 1,002 33 40 9 5 3 – 5 5 7 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 2–4 Nov 2015 1,093 30 41 8 4 5 – 6 6 11 Infratest dimap 17–21 Sep 2015 1,005 31 41 10 5 5 – 4 4 10 Infratest dimap 17–21 Jul 2015 1,001 33 42 10 4 3 – 3 5 9 GESS Phone & Field 12–22 Jun 2015 1,003 33 40 11 4 3 – 4 5 7 Infratest dimap 11–15 Feb 2015 1,000 32 42 11 3 3 – 5 4 10 GESS Phone & Field 5–15 Dec 2014 1,002 30 43 10 3 4 1 5 4 13 Infratest dimap 7–10 Nov 2014 1,000 31 43 11 2 4 – 5 4 12 Infratest dimap 19–22 Sep 2014 1,000 31 43 10 2 4 – 6 4 12 GESS Phone & Field 13–21 Jun 2014 1,002 32 41 10 3 4 – 4 6 9 Infratest dimap 2–5 May 2014 1,001 31 41 11 3 4 – 4 6 10 Infratest dimap 28–31 Mar 2014 1,000 33 41 11 3 4 – 3 5 8 Infratest dimap 9–10 Dec 2013 1,000 35 40 9 4 4 – 4 4 5 GESS Phone & Field 29 Nov–6 Dec 2013 1,005 32 43 9 4 4 2 2 4 11 Infratest dimap 29 Aug–2 Sep 2013 1,000 34 43 10 3 2 3 3 2 9 GESS Phone & Field 3–13 May 2013 1,003 35 39 12 3 3 3 1 4 4 Infratest dimap 18–21 Apr 2013 1,000 34 43 12 2 2 2 2 3 9 Infratest dimap 11–14 Jan 2013 1,000 33 43 13 2 3 3 – 3 10 GESS Phone & Field 7–12 Jan 2013 2,007 35 40 11 3 2 4 – 5 5 GESS Phone & Field 8–13 Oct 2012 1,004 36 36 13 3 2 3 – ? Tie Infratest dimap 8–9 Oct 2012 1,000 36 40 12 3 2 3 – 4 4 Infratest dimap 24–27 Aug 2012 1,000 32 39 15 3 2 5 – 4 7 Infratest dimap 23–24 Jul 2012 1,003 31 37 16 3 3 5 – 5 6 GESS Phone & Field 16–22 Jun 2012 1,005 37 35 14 4 2 5 – 3 2 Infratest dimap 4–7 May 2012 1,000 36 36 14 3 3 6 – 2 Tie Infratest dimap 23–27 Mar 2012 1,000 36 37 15 2 3 5 – 2 1 GESS Phone & Field 12–17 Mar 2012 1,003 36 36 15 3 2 4 – ? Tie GESS Phone & Field 1–9 Dec 2011 1,003 37 35 16 3 2 4 – ? 2 Infratest dimap 2–5 Dec 2011 1,000 37 37 15 3 2 4 – 2 Tie GESS Phone & Field 16–22 Sep 2011 1,004 38 34 17 2 2 3 – ? 4 Infratest dimap 19–20 Sep 2011 1,000 39 34 16 2 3 3 – 3 5 Psephos 14–17 Jun 2011 1,004 34 38 15 3 3 – – 7 4 2011 state election 27 Mar 2011 – 35.7 35.2 15.4 4.2 3.0 1.6 – 4.8 0.5

Results < 2011    2021 > |- |colspan=7| |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" rowspan="2" width=400 |Party !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="3" |Popular vote !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="3" |Seats |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=60|Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=40|% !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=50|+/– !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=30|Seats !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=30|+/–

| Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD|| 771,848 || 36.2 || 0.5 || 39 || 3 |- | Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands – CDU|| 677,507 || 31.8 || 3.4 || 35 || 6 |- | Alternative für Deutschland – AfD|| 268,628 || 12.6 || 12.6 || 14 || 14 |- | Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP|| 132,294 || 6.2 || 2.0 || 7 || 7 |- | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen|| 113,261 || 5.3 || 10.1 || 6 || 12 |- | Die Linke|| 59,970 || 2.8 || 0.2 || – || – |- | || align=left | Free Voters Rhineland-PalatinateFreie Wähler|| 47,924 || 2.2 || 0.1 || – || – |- | Piratenpartei|| 16,708 || 0.8 || 0.8 || – || – |- | Allianz für Fortschritt und Aufbruch – ALFA|| 13,154 || 0.6 || 0.6 || – || – |- | Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands – NPD|| 10,565 || 0.5 || 0.6 || – || – |- | Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei – ÖDP|| 8,623 || 0.4 || || – || – |- | Die Republikaner – REP|| 5,090 || 0.2 || || – || – |- | || align=left | Die Einheit|| 3,105 || 0.1 || 0.1 || – || – |- | || align=left | The Third WayDer III. Weg|| 1,944 || 0.1 || 0.1 || – || – |- | bgcolor="white"| || align=left |Other parties|| – || – || – || – || – |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | align="right" colspan="2" | Valid votes | 2,130,621 | 98.6 | 0.7 | colspan=2 rowspan=2 color=#BAB9B9| |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | align="right" colspan="2" | Invalid votes | 30,885 | 1.4 | 0.7 |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | align="right" colspan="2" | Totals and voter turnout | 2,161,506 | 70.4 | 8.6 | 101 | – |- style="background-color:#BAB9B9" | colspan="2" | Electorate | 3,071,972 | 100.0 | — | colspan=2| |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source: Landeswahlleiter

References

External links Rhineland-Palatinate Electoral Office