Politics of Rhineland-Palatinate
The politics of Rhineland-Palatinate takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Rhineland-Palatinate. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag. This regional parliament or legislature then elects the Minister-President and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for winegrowing (ministry of economy, traffic, agriculture and winegrowing)
List of Minister-presidents of Rhineland-Palatinate
- June 13, 1947 - July 9, 1947: Wilhelm Boden, CDU
- 1947 - 1969: Peter Altmeier, CDU
- 1969 - 1976: Helmut Kohl, CDU
- 1976 - 1988: Bernhard Vogel, CDU
- 1988 - 1991: Carl-Ludwig Wagner, CDU
- 1991 - 1994: Rudolf Scharping, SPD
- 1994 - 2013: Kurt Beck, SPD
- 2013 - incumbent Malu Dreyer, SPD
Latest election
In the election, the SPD suffered large loss, falling by 10% of the vote and winning only one seat more than the Christian Democratic Union. The main winners were Alliance '90/The Greens, who surged to over 15% of the vote, having failed to even break through the 5% threshold in 2006. In 2011, however, the Free Democratic Party failed to break through 5%, and thus lost the 10 seats they'd won in 2006.
Summary of the 27 March 2011 election results for the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate
| Party | Vote % (change) | Seats (change) | Seat % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 35.7% | –9.9 | 42 | –11 | 41.6% | |
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 35.2% | +2.4 | 41 | +3 | 40.6% | |
| Alliance '90/The Greens (Die Grünen) | 15.4% | +10.8 | 18 | +18 | 17.8% | |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 4.2% | –3.8 | 0 | –10 | — | |
| The Left Party (Linke, formerly WASG) | 3.0% | +0.4 | 0 | ±0 | — | |
| Free Voters | 2.3% | +0.7 | 0 | ±0 | — | |
| Pirate Party Germany | 1.6% | +1.6 | 0 | N/A | — | |
| National Democratic Party of Germany | 1.1% | –0.1 | 0 | ±0 | — | |
| Others | 3.1% | +1.2 | 0 | — | — | |
| Total | 101 | |||||