Local elections in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia took place on 14 September 2025 to elect district, municipal, and city councils and local boards, as well as mayors in most cities and district administrators in most districts. Runoff elections for mayors and district administrators will be held on 28 September if necessary. There was no five percent hurdle unlike in federal elections.

Voting eligibility All German and EU citizens aged 16 or over on election day are eligible to vote if they had lived in a municipality for at least sixteen days.

Events During the election seven candidates of Alternative for Germany (AfD) died, sparking conspiracy theories on social media. The candidates were between the ages of 42 and 80 and - with the exception of one 42-year-old man, who committed suicide - died of natural causes, according to police. Martin Vincentz, chair of the AfD North Rhine-Westphalia said that there was "no indication of an unnatural cause of death", but "if many people see the possibility of a political murder, it's a consequence of the ruthless fight against the AfD over the past few years."

The elected mayor of Herdecke Iris Stalzer (SPD) was stabbed by her adopted daughter on 7 October 2025. She was found in a life-threatening condition and taken to hospital via helicopter. Stalzer has since made a full recovery and was sworn in as the mayor of Herdecke on 4 November 2025.

In 2025, the far-right Third Way party won a seat in the North Rhein-Westphalia local elections.

Results The following shows the result of the elections to the district councils and district free cities.

Results in independent cities + City councils City CDU SPD AfD Grüne Linke FDP BSW Volt PARTEI WG Others Cologne 19.9 19.9 9.1 25.0 10.8 3.9 1.9 5.0 1.8 2.5 0.1 Düsseldorf 33.5 14.9 10.6 21.9 6.4 4.9 1.6 2.5 1.0 1.6 1.0 Dortmund 22.1 24.9 16.6 16.5 8.0 2.1 2.0 1.4 1.8 2.6 2.1 Essen 30.2 22.6 16.9 12.3 5.8 1.9 1.5 1.5 1.8 3.6 1.7 Duisburg 17.4 32.6 21.2 9.1 6.0 1.5 2.1 0.5 0.4 9.2 0.2 Bochum 20.0 28.1 14.9 14.4 9.5 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.3 5.9 0.7 Wuppertal 22.2 28.8 17.1 11.4 8.4 4.2 2.5 0.4 1.4 2.9 0.5 Bielefeld 29.4 21.7 12.2 15.0 10.5 4.8 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.6 0.8 Bonn 31.9 11.8 6.0 26.3 8.7 2.9 1.1 2.7 0.9 7.0 0.5 Münster 31.3 14.1 4.5 31.6 8.4 2.9 – 4.0 1.1 0.9 1.0 Mönchengladbach 33.2 28.4 15.6 8.6 5.6 2.8 2.1 1.3 1.9 0.4 Gelsenkirchen 19.2 30.4 29.9 4.6 4.3 2.7 1.6 – 0.8 4.4 2.2 Aachen 32.8 13.4 7.7 27.8 7.7 2.7 1.7 3.0 1.3 1.7 0.1 Krefeld 30.5 25.9 15.6 11.2 5.5 3.5 – – 1.7 2.8 3.3 Oberhausen 26.8 26.1 21.5 8.2 5.7 2.1 2.3 – 2.3 2.3 2.8 Hagen 26.4 19.9 22.4 7.4 3.9 3.0 3.1 – 1.1 12.0 0.8 Hamm 22.9 46.1 16.3 4.7 2.7 2.0 1.8 0.9 – 2.5 – Mülheim an der Ruhr 30.1 25.5 15.1 14.2 4.7 3.2 – – 2.2 4.7 0.3 Leverkusen 31.0 21.5 15.3 10.9 5.1 3.3 – 2.5 – 10.0 0.4 Solingen 29.9 17.7 15.0 11.3 5.2 2.0 – – 1.3 16.5 1.0 Herne 17.8 37.0 22.4 8.5 5.6 1.8 2.2 – – 3.5 1.2 Bottrop 26.8 31.6 21.8 6.7 4.7 2.4 – – – – 6.1 Remscheid 27.0 31.3 16.1 8.4 6.4 4.2 – – – 6.6 –

+ Mayors City Elected mayor Party/Ticket Result 1st round 2nd round Cologne Torsten Burmester SPD 21.3% Düsseldorf Stephan Keller CDU 43.6% Dortmund Alexander Kalouti CDU 17.0% Essen Thomas Kufen CDU 42.3% Bochum Jörg Lukat SPD/Grüne 43.1% Wuppertal Miriam Scherff SPD 33.3% Bielefeld Christiana Bauer CDU 33.0% Bonn Guido Déus CDU 38.9% Münster Tilman Fuchs Grüne 41.3% Mönchengladbach Felix Heinrichs SPD 43.4% Gelsenkirchen Andrea Henze SPD 37.0% Aachen Michael Ziemons CDU 40.5% Krefeld Frank Meyer SPD 35.9% Oberhausen Thorsten Berg SPD 31.1% Hagen Dennis Rehbein CDU 25.1% Hamm Marc Herter SPD Mülheim an der Ruhr Nadia Khalaf SPD 28.0% Leverkusen Stefan Hebbel CDU 35.9% Solingen Daniel Flemm CDU 31.7% Herne Frank Dudda SPD Bottrop Matthias Buschfeld SPD 38.5% Remscheid Sven Wolf SPD 41.5%

Results in districts + District councils City CDU SPD AfD Grüne Linke FDP BSW Volt PARTEI WG Others Recklinghausen 33.4 27.5 19.6 9.3 4.4 2.7 2.4 0.4 0.2 – – Rhein-Sieg-Kreis 38.7 19.8 13.3 14.6 3.8 3.8 1.9 2.5 – 1.2 0.5 Aachen 36.7 19.8 12.8 16.1 5.7 3.1 1.1 2.1 1.6 0.9 – Mettmann 36.1 16.9 14.6 14.5 4.3 5.5 – – – 4.0 4.1 Rhein-Erft-Kreis 37.2 20.9 14.7 13.3 4.4 3.5 1.9 0.8 – 2.2 1.1 Wesel 33.2 29.0 13.5 10.8 5.5 3.5 – 0.6 – 3.9 – Rhein-Kreis Neuss 38.8 22.0 12.7 12.0 3.8 5.0 0.8 0.6 1.5 1.9 0.8 Steinfurt 39.6 22.7 10.8 13.8 5.1 4.0 – – – 4.0 – Märkischer Kreis 37.0 19.1 18.3 7.8 5.8 4.6 1.5 – – 5.9 – Unna 27.2 30.8 17.0 10.0 4.7 2.7 1.4 1.1 0.3 4.8 0.1 Borken 47.6 15.0 10.1 9.6 3.8 4.3 1.3 – – 8.2 – Gütersloh 39.7 18.2 13.7 13.0 4.6 4.2 – 0.6 – 6.0 – Lippe 28.3 27.0 16.9 11.8 4.4 4.1 – – 0.9 3.5 3.2 Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis 26.0 28.9 16.7 12.9 5.5 4.5 2.0 0.1 1.2 2.1 0.2 Kleve 43.4 18.1 13.0 12.4 4.6 4.8 – – – 3.7 – Minden-Lübbecke 33.1 26.5 18.1 8.9 4.8 4.8 – – 0.3 3.5 0.0 Paderborn 44.5 12.0 15.1 14.3 5.2 3.4 1.3 – 1.5 2.7 – Soest 39.5 19.9 13.8 10.6 3.8 5.1 1.5 – 0.1 5.8 – Viersen 40.5 16.3 13.2 15.7 4.2 5.1 – 1.1 2.3 1.7 – Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis 37.3 17.6 12.0 16.8 4.6 4.6 – 3.2 – 3.7 – Warendorf 41.2 17.9 10.8 13.2 4.7 4.3 – – 0.3 5.8 1.7 Siegen-Wittgenstein 32.2 25.4 17.0 7.9 4.8 4.8 – 2.2 – 3.1 2.6 Oberbergischer Kreis 36.3 20.5 18.1 9.6 4.3 4.0 2.4 – – 4.9 – Düren 38.6 21.0 17.9 9.0 3.8 2.8 2.1 0.7 – 4.1 – Hochsauerlandkreis 46.6 22.3 12.1 7.2 3.2 3.9 – – – 4.7 – Heinsberg 46.7 13.8 16.2 11.1 3.8 3.8 – – 0.4 4.3 – Herford 29.8 29.6 18.1 9.0 5.2 3.3 – 0.3 1.9 2.9 – Coesfeld 47.1 15.6 9.1 16.0 3.5 3.7 – – – 3.2 1.8 Euskirchen 34.7 24.7 16.0 8.5 4.0 6.6 1.1 – – 4.0 0.5 Höxter 44.8 15.6 14.5 8.8 3.3 3.5 – – – 9.5 – Olpe 49.1 17.9 12.0 8.1 2.5 2.9 0.5 – – 6.9 –

+ District administrators City Elected administrator Party/Ticket Result 1st round 2nd round Recklinghausen Bodo Klimpel CDU/FDP 39.8% Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Sebastian Schuster CDU 45.0% Aachen Tim Grüttemeier CDU 44.3% Mettmann Bettina Warnecke CDU Rhein-Erft-Kreis Frank Rock CDU 45.9% Wesel Ingo Brohl CDU/Grüne 46.6% Rhein-Kreis Neuss Katharina-Bernhardine Reinhold CDU 45.9% Steinfurt Martin Sommer Independent 28.1% Märkischer Kreis Ralf Michael Schwarzkopf CDU Unna Mario Löhr SPD Borken Kai Zwicker CDU Gütersloh Ina Laukötter CDU Lippe Meinolf Haase CDU 39.8% Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Jan-Christoph Schaberick SPD 37.6% Kleve No election Minden-Lübbecke No election Paderborn Christoph Rüther CDU Soest Heinrich Frieling CDU 48.2% Viersen Bennet Gielen CDU 47.0% Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Arne von Boettischer CDY 40.8% Warendorf Olaf Gericke CDU/FDP Siegen-Wittgenstein Andreas Müller SPD 44.2% Oberbergischer Kreis Klaus Grootens CDU/FDP 43.2% Düren Ralf Nolten CDU 44.4% Hochsauerlandkreis Thomas Grosche CDU Heinsberg Stephan Pusch CDU Herford Mirco Schmidt CDU 43.6% Coesfeld Christian Schulze Pellengahr CDU Euskirchen Markus Ramers SPD Höxter Michael Stickeln CDU Olpe Theo Melcher CDU

Ruhr Parliament Party Votes % +/– Seats +/– Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 584,829 28.2 1.1 29 0 Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) 531,691 25.7 1.5 26 1 Alternative for Germany (AfD) 386,861 18.7 11.6 19 12 Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) 232,427 11.2 9.1 11 9 The Left (LINKE) 120,833 5.8 1.7 6 2 Action Party for Animal Welfare (TIERSCHUTZ) 45,819 2.2 0.2 0 0 Free Democratic Party (FDP) 44,150 2.1 1.6 0 4 Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) 40,792 2.0 New 0 New Die PARTEI 27,421 1.3 0.8 0 0 Volt Germany (Volt) 25,753 1.2 0.7 0 0 Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE) 8,932 0.4 New 0 New Voter Initiative NRW (WIN) 6,589 0.3 New 0 New Team Todenhöfer 5,518 0.3 New 0 New The Homeland (Heimat) 2,938 0.1 New 0 New Antifascist, Independent, Progressive (AUF Ruhr) 2,657 0.1 New 0 New GUT 1,650 0.1 New 0 New Party of Humanists (PdH) 1,595 0.1 New 0.1 Total 1,070,455 100.0 91 0 Blank/invalid votes 25,072 1.2 Registered voters/turnout 3,876,360 54.1 7.0

Opinion polls Statewide (2025) Polling FirmPolling dateCDUSPDGRÜNEFDPAfDLINKEBSWOthers2025 election14 September 2025 33.322.113.53.714.55.61.16.2INSA21 August 2025 362310415633Forsa9 July 2025 3222143146272020 election13 September 2020 34.324.3205.653.8—7

References