Election results at a glance

Parliamentary election in North Rhine-Westphalia 1985

Results of the parliamentary election on 05/12/1985
SPD
CDU
FDP
Die Grünen
Other
52.1
36.5
6.0
4.6
0.7
+3.7
-6.7
+1.0
+1.6
+0.7

Political orientation of parties

SPD
CDU
FDP
Die Grünen
What do the symbols mean?
To make parties easier to compare, the symbols indicate a party’s political orientation. These categories provide a quick overview. More detailed information on political positions can be found on the party subpages.
Far left
Left
Centre-left
Centre
Transversal
Unknown
Centre-right
Right
Far right
Liberal
Environment & climate
Regional
Animal rights
Satirical

Electoral threshold

The electoral threshold in North Rhine-Westphalia is 5%.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout was 75.3%.
Current election trend for North Rhine-Westphalia
Poll results, coalitions, and election outcomes
Historical elections in North Rhine-Westphalia
Results, coalitions, and data

Information on the electoral system

Direct election

Voters elect representatives directly.

Mixed system

Voters cast votes for both individual candidates and parties.

Compensatory system

Direct seats are balanced by compensatory seats to ensure proportional outcomes.

Single round

The election is decided in one round.

Free

Elections are free and fair, with genuine competition.

Seat distribution and possible coalitions

227
Majority from 114 seats
SPD
125
55.1%
CDU
88
38.8%
FDP
14
6.2%

The government could remain in office

The incumbent governing parties secured 55.1% of the seats.
SPD
Centre-left
55.1%
CDU + FDP
Centre-right
44.9%

Important political parties in North Rhine-Westphalia

Key players in parliamentary competition
This overview shows all parties that, based on current polling, have a realistic chance of entering parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia or significantly shape the political debate. Classifying their political orientation is essential for understanding bloc formation and the mathematically possible majorities in the next parliament.
More parties
All political parties in North Rhine-Westphalia at a glance
What do the parties stand for?
Information, comparisons, and data on parties in North Rhine-Westphalia

Government cabinets of the legislative term

Historical government cabinets in North Rhine-Westphalia
Cabinets and governing parties since 1945

Accuracy of pre-election polls

Deviation of pre-election polls from the election result

Detailed party results

Sources of data and information

PolitPro

PolitPro brings together scientific data and current poll results to make politics tangible for everyone. We use datasets from leading research projects and complement them with our own research, analyses, and algorithms. This allows us to make complex political contexts accessible and easy to understand. Supported by AI.

Found a mistake?

Political data changes every day. If you notice an error, feel free to send us an email. A short source reference helps us review the information.

ParlGov – Parliamentary Democracy Data

Long-running research data from the University of Bremen. It documents political parties and governments and enables systematic political comparison.
More
Döring, Holger and Philip Manow. 2024. Parliaments and governments database (ParlGov): Information on parties, elections and cabinets in established democracies.

CHES – Chapel Hill Expert Survey

Europe’s most important expert survey on party positions. More than 400 political scientists from different countries assess party positions based on scientific criteria.
More
Rovny, Jan, Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Vachudova. “25 Years of Political Party Positions in Europe: The Chapel Hill Expert Survey, 1999-2024,”