1970 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

1970 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 1966 14 June 1970 1975 →
All 200 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	8,739,940 (73.5% 3.0pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Heinrich Köppler Heinz Kühn Willi Weyer Party CDU SPD FDP Last election 86 seats, 42.8% 99 seats, 49.5% 15 seats, 7.4% Seats won 95 94 11 Seat change 9 5 4 Popular vote 4,020,186 3,996,808 478,420 Percentage 46.3% 46.1% 5.5% Swing 3.5pp 3.4pp 1.9pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election First Kühn cabinet SPD–FDP Government after election Second Kühn cabinet SPD–FDP

The 1970 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 14 June 1970 to elect the 7th 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 Heinz Kühn.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) returned as the largest party after falling to second in 1966, winning a narrow plurality of 46.3%, with a lead of 0.2% and one seat over the SPD. The FDP suffered losses and declined to 5.5%. Overall, the incumbent coalition retained a reduced majority of 105 seats. However, a number of FDP deputies opposed to cooperation with the SPD refused to vote for Kühn in the investiture vote on 28 July; he was re-elected with the minimum majority of 101 votes out of 200. There were 95 votes for CDU leader Heinrich Köppler and four abstentions.^[1] In October, three members of the FDP faction defected to the new party National Liberal Action, leaving the government with a narrow majority of 102 seats.^[2] Nonetheless, it completed its full term.