1978 Hessian state election

1978 Hessian state election

8 October 1978
All 110 seats in the Landtag of Hesse 56 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	3,450,090 (87.7% 2.9pp)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Alfred Dregger Holger Börner Ekkehard Gries Party CDU SPD FDP Last election 53 seats, 47.3% 49 seats, 43.2% 8 seats, 7.4% Seats won 53 50 7 Seat change 0 1 1 Popular vote 1,575,445 1,515,953 225,044 Percentage 46.0% 44.3% 6.6% Swing 1.3pp 1.1pp 0.8pp
Results for the single-member constituencies.
Government before election First Börner cabinet SPD–FDP Government after election Second Börner cabinet SPD–FDP

The 1978 Hessian state election was held on 8 October 1978 to elect the 9th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Holger Börner.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) remained the largest party with 46%, but the SPD narrowed the gap with a swing of about one percentage point. The FDP recorded a small decline. Overall, the incumbent coalition retained its majority with a net shift of one seat from the FDP to the SPD, and was renewed for a third term.

Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 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

Main article: 1974 Hessian state election

In the previous election held on 27 October 1974, the CDU overtook the SPD to become the largest party in Hesse for the first time on a swing of 7.6 percentage points. Despite losses, the incumbent SPD and FDP coalition narrowly retained its majority and was renewed for a second term. On 3 October 1976, incumbent Minister-President Albert Osswald resigned after a financial scandal involving public bank Helaba and was replaced by Kassel's MdB Holger Börner, and the social-liberal coalition continued.

A hot topic was the city of Lahn in Central Hesse, which had been created by the merger of the cities of Giessen and Wetzlar, that were 15 kilometers apart. Osswald, a former Mayor of Giessen, was a supporter of the new city, which was however unpopular with the public, thus leading to SPD losing some support in the center of the state. Despite Lahn being the creation of his party, Börner announced that he would eliminate Lahn and restore the status quo with Giessen and Wetzlar.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 8th Landtag of Hesse.

Name			Ideology	Lead candidate	1974 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Alfred Dregger	47.3%	53 / 110
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Holger Börner	43.2%	49 / 110
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Ekkehard Gries	7.4%	8 / 110

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Con.	List	Total	+–
	Christian Democratic Union	1,575,445	46.03	–1.30	29	24	53	0
	Social Democratic Party	1,515,953	44.29	+1.13	26	24	50	+1
	Free Democratic Party	225,044	6.57	–0.82	0	7	7	–1
	Green List Hesse	37,758	1.10	New	0	0	0	New
	Green Action Future	30,787	0.90	New	0	0	0	New
	German Communist Party	14,531	0.42	–0.46	0	0	0	0
	National Democratic Party	12,507	0.37	–0.65	0	0	0	0
	Free Voters	7,452	0.22	New	0	0	0	New
	Communist League of West Germany	2,638	0.08	–0.01	0	0	0	0
	European Workers' Party	511	0.01	New	0	0	0	New
	Green List Environmental Protection	274	0.01	New	0	0	0	New
	Justice Party	39	0.00	New	0	0	0	New
	Action Group Fourth Party	12	0.00	New	0	0	0	New
	Independents	16	0.00	0.00	0	–	0	0
Total		3,422,967	100.00	–	55	55	110	0
Valid votes		3,422,967	99.21
Invalid/blank votes		27,123	0.79
Total votes		3,450,090	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,933,990	87.70

External links

• "Final Results for the Landtag election of 8 October 1978" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). 24 October 1978. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
• "Elections for the 9th Hessian state parliament, October 8, 1978". Hessian Regional History Information System (in German). Retrieved 15 September 2023.
• "The election of the Hessian Landtag on 8 October 1978" (PDF). Parliamentary Data Bank of the Hessian Landtag (in German). 1979. Retrieved 15 September 2023.