2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

← 2017 15 May 2022 2027 →
All 195 seats in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 98 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	7,201,210 (55.5% 9.6pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Hendrik Wüst Thomas Kutschaty Mona Neubaur Party CDU SPD Greens Last election 72 seats, 33.0% 69 seats, 31.2% 14 seats, 6.4% Seats won 76 56 39 Seat change 4 13 25 Popular vote 2,552,276 1,905,002 1,299,821 Percentage 35.7% 26.7% 18.2% Swing 2.8pp 4.6pp 11.8pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Candidate Joachim Stamp Markus Wagner Party FDP AfD Last election 28 seats, 12.6% 16 seats, 7.4% Seats won 12 12 Seat change 16 4 Popular vote 418,460 388,768 Percentage 5.9% 5.4% Swing 6.7pp 1.9pp
Map of the election, showing the winner of each single-member district and the distribution of list seats.
Government before election First Wüst cabinet CDU–FDP Government after election Second Wüst cabinet CDU-Green

The 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 15 May 2022 to elect the 18th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government (First Wüst cabinet) was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Hendrik Wüst.

The CDU remained the largest party with 36% of votes, a small increase from 2017, while the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) declined to 27%. The Greens almost tripled their vote share to 18%. The FDP fell sharply to 6%, and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) slipped to 5%. Overall, the incumbent coalition lost its majority, though the opposition SPD and Greens also fell short of victory.^[1][2]

After the election, CDU formed a coalition with the Greens. This was the first time the two parties had worked together on the state level in North Rhine-Westphalia. Hendrik Wüst was re-elected as Minister-President on 28 June, and his cabinet was sworn in the next day.^[3]