1980 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

1980 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 1975 11 May 1980 1985 →
All 201 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	9,874,427 (80.0% 6.1pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Johannes Rau Kurt Biedenkopf[a] Liselotte Funcke Party SPD CDU FDP Last election 91 seats, 45.1% 95 seats, 47.1% 14 seats, 6.7% Seats won 106 95 0 Seat change 15 0 14 Popular vote 4,756,103 4,240,885 489,225 Percentage 48.4% 43.2% 4.98% Swing 3.3pp 3.9pp 1.7pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election First Rau cabinet SPD–FDP Government after election Second Rau cabinet SPD

The 1980 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 11 May 1980 to elect the 9th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Johannes Rau.

The result was a clear victory for the SPD, who won an absolute majority of 106 seats in the Landtag with 48.4% of the vote. The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) declined to 43.2% and remained steady on 95 seats. The SPD's majority was ensured by the failure of the FDP to re-enter parliament: they fell just short of the 5% electoral threshold and lost all their seats. The SPD went on to form government alone for the first time in the state's history; Johannes Rau was re-elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 4 June.^[1]

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