State elections

Currently there are four parties in the State Parliament of North-Rhine Westfalia. Two of these parties, the SPD (102 seats) and the Grüne (17 seats) form a coalition and therefore build the State government. Together they have a majority of 119 seats (out of 231 seats).

The two opposition parties are the CDU (88 seats) and the FDP (24 seats).

The 16 Federal States in Germany all have their respective election laws. It is the right of the particular State government to choose the date of the State election within a margin. The election turnus varies from 4 to 5 years depending on the State.

A 5%-hurdle is applied within all of the 16 State Elections and also with elections for the Federal Parliament.

In the following days I'd like to give you a little survey over each of the four parties represented in the State Parliament of North-Rhine Westfalia.