A new state parliament will be elected in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday. As with most elections in Germany, this happens according to the principle of personalized proportional representation. This means that every voter has a first and a second vote. Here you can find out what the difference is and how to fill out the ballot paper correctly.
The voters in North Rhine-Westphalia can make two crosses. With the first vote or constituency vote, they elect a direct candidate in their constituency, with the second vote or state vote, a party. The second vote is decisive for the composition of the new Schleswig-Holstein state parliament and the balance of power.
Every person entitled to vote in North Rhine-Westphalia has two votes in the state elections. These can be distributed on the ballot paper. One vote is cast on the left half of the page, this is the first vote. The other vote is given on the right half, this is the second vote.
In order for the ballot to be considered valid, it must clearly identify a candidate and/or party list. The electoral law does not stipulate that this marking must necessarily be a cross.
Voting secrecy means that it must not be apparent which party you are voting for while you are voting. This means that it must not be visible to the outside where you have placed your crosses. That is exactly what happened to Armin Laschet in the federal election and his vote was still valid. However, you should avoid this mistake. Before and after voting, you are free to decide whether you want to keep your voting decision to yourself or share it with others.
Furthermore, you do not have to sign the ballot paper and you should not do so under any circumstances. If the ballot “contains an addition or caveat,” the vote is invalid. That is what the Federal Elections Act says. So the signature on your ballot paper would be this inadmissible addition.
The first vote determines the direct mandate in the constituency. Whoever gets the most votes there is elected by the population.
The remaining seats are allocated according to which parties had the best second vote results. The second vote does not elect an individual candidate, but the state list of a party. The second vote is decisive for the composition of the new state parliament and the balance of power. This means that the first vote elects a candidate and the second vote elects a party. The second vote is considered a more important vote, as it decides on the majority in the Bundestag.
If a party receives more direct mandates in the constituencies than it would be entitled to based on second votes, it retains these multiple seats. The other parties receive compensation mandates according to their share. The five percent hurdle also applies to state elections.
At least 181 MPs will be elected for five years in NRW on Sunday – 128 of them as direct candidates and 53 via the state lists. All Germans who have reached the age of 18 on election day and have lived in North Rhine-Westphalia since at least April 29, 2022 are entitled to vote.
Five factions are currently represented in the state parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2017, a total of 199 MPs moved into the NRW parliament due to overhang and compensation mandates. A CDU/FDP coalition replaced the red-green coalition and has a majority of just one vote.
The CDU won the 2017 election with 33 percent ahead of the SPD (31.2 percent). The FDP came third with 12.6 percent – followed by the AfD, which entered the state parliament for the first time with 7.4 percent. The Greens fell to 6.4 percent in 2017. In the AfD, three MPs have now left the parliamentary group and are non-attached.
You can read more about the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on the topic page.
