North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2017

North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 2012 14 May 2017 2022 →
All 199 seats of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 100 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader 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 before 68 seats 98 seats 22 seats Seats won 72 69 28 Seat change 5 30 6 Percentage 33.0% 31.2% 12.6% Swing 6.7% 7.9% 4.0%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Marcus Pretzell Sylvia Löhrmann Özlem Demirel & Christian Leye Party AfD Green Left Last election did not exist 29 seats, 11.3% no seats, 2.5% Seats before no seats 29 seats 1 seat Seats won 16 14 0 Seat change 16 15 Percentage 7.4% 6.4% 4.9% Swing 7.4% 4.9% 2.4%   Seventh party   Leader Michele Marsching Party Pirates Last election 20 seats, 7.8% Seats before 17 seats Seats won 0 Seat change 20 Percentage 1.0% Swing 6.8%
First votes in the electoral districts.      CDU      SPD
Minister-President before election Hannelore Kraft SPD Elected Minister-President Armin Laschet CDU

Hannelore Kraft
SPD

Armin Laschet
CDU

An election was held on 14 May 2017 to elect members to the Landtag (state legislature) of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The incumbent government at time of the election was the SPD–Green administration of Minister-President Hannelore Kraft. The main opposition consisted of the CDU, led by Armin Laschet since 2014, and the FDP led by Christian Lindner. Following the election, the CDU and FDP formed a coalition government with Armin Laschet becoming the new Minister-President. The SPD went into the opposition.

CDU became the largest party, whereas the ruling SPD and Greens lost votes. The Pirates were ousted from the Landtag, whereas the AfD gained parliamentary representation. FDP got their best result in history. Die Linke narrowly failed to get parliamentary representation. Voter turnout was higher than in the previous election.