1970 Hessian state election

8 November 1970

All 110 seats in the Landtag of Hesse
56 seats needed for a majority
Turnout3,171,227 (82.8% Increase 1.9pp)
  First party Second party
 
Albert Osswald.jpg
KAS-Dregger, Alfred-Bild-5037-1.jpg
Candidate Albert Osswald Alfred Dregger
Party SPD CDU
Last election 52 seats, 51.0% 26 seats, 26.4%
Seats won 53 46
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 20
Popular vote 1,442,201 1,248,543
Percentage 45.9% 39.7%
Swing Decrease 5.1pp Increase 13.4pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F052015-0020, Kiel, FDP-Bundesparteitag, Karry.jpg
Candidate Heinz-Herbert Karry
Party FDP NPD
Last election 10 seats, 10.4% 8 seats, 7.9%
Seats won 11 0
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 8
Popular vote 316,270 94,531
Percentage 10.1% 3.0%
Swing Decrease 0.3pp Decrease 4.9pp

Results for the single-member constituencies.

Government before election

First Osswald cabinet
SPD

Government after election

Second Osswald cabinet
SPDFDP

The 1970 Hessian state election was held on 8 November 1970 to elect the 7th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a majority of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Albert Osswald.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which had taken a hard line against the SPD under new leader Alfred Dregger, recorded a major swing of 13 percentage points in its favour, to the detriment of the SPD and National Democratic Party, the latter losing all its seats after a single term in the Landtag. The SPD remained the largest party with 46%, and subsequently formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party, following in the footsteps of the federal government formed the previous year.

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. The size of the Landtag was increased in this election from 96 to 110 members. 55 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 55 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.

Background

In the previous election held on 6 November 1966, the SPD retained its majority with 51% of the vote. The CDU and FDP both stagnated on 26% and 10% respectively, while the new right-wing NPD capitalised on discontent over the economy and the major parties and entered the Landtag with 8%. This marked the party's first success in an election and was followed by a string of similar showings in other states over the following two years. In October 1969, long-serving Minister-President Georg-August Zinn resigned after 19 years in office after suffering a severe stroke. He was succeeded by finance minister Albert Osswald.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 6th Landtag of Hesse.

Name Ideology Lead
candidate
1966 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Social democracy Albert Osswald 51.0%
52 / 96
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany
Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands
Christian democracy Alfred Dregger 26.4%
26 / 96
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freie Demokratische Partei
Classical liberalism Heinz Herbert Karry 10.4%
10 / 96
NPD National Democratic Party of Germany
Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands
German nationalism 7.9%
8 / 96

Results

PartyVotes%+/–Seats
Con.ListTotal+–
Social Democratic Party1,442,20145.90–5.10381553+1
Christian Democratic Union1,248,45339.74+13.38172946+20
Free Democratic Party316,27010.07–0.3301111+1
National Democratic Party94,5313.01–4.94000–8
German Communist Party36,7121.17New000New
European Workers' Party3,6490.12New000New
Total3,141,816100.005555110+14
Valid votes3,141,81699.07
Invalid/blank votes29,4110.93
Total votes3,171,227100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,828,70182.83
  • "Final Results for the Landtag election of 8 November 1970" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). 19 November 1970. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  • "State election in Hesse, November 8, 1970". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 16 September 2023.

Notes

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