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.

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

Parties

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 Social democracy Hannelore Kraft 39.1% CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Armin Laschet 26.3% Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics Sylvia Löhrmann 11.3% FDP Free Democratic Party Classical liberalism Christian Lindner 8.6% Piraten Pirate Party Germany Pirate politics Michele Marsching 7.8%

Opinion polling Party polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize 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 SPD 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.

References