# 1974 Hessian state election

The 1974 Hessian state election was held on 27 October 1974 to elect the 8th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Albert Osswald.
The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) achieved a significant victory by becoming the largest party in Hesse for the first time. The state had long been considered a stronghold of the SPD. Despite this, the SPD and FDP retained a narrow majority between them and renewed their coalition for a second 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

In the previous election held on 8 November 1970, the CDU achieved a major swing and increased its vote share to just under 40%, offering a serious challenge to the SPD for the first time in decades. Though remaining the largest party with 46%, the SPD were deprived of their majority and formed a coalition government with the FDP.

## Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 7th Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1970 result | 1970 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Albert Osswald | 45.9% | 53 / 110 |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Alfred Dregger | 39.7% | 46 / 110 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Heinz Herbert Karry | 10.1% | 11 / 110 |

## Results

| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Con. | List | Total | +– |
| | Christian Democratic Union | 1,528,793 | 47.32 | +7.59 | 35 | 18 | 53 | +7 |
| | Social Democratic Party | 1,394,123 | 43.16 | –2.75 | 20 | 29 | 49 | –4 |
| | Free Democratic Party | 238,726 | 7.39 | –2.68 | 0 | 8 | 8 | –3 |
| | National Democratic Party | 32,713 | 1.01 | –2.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | German Communist Party | 28,699 | 0.89 | –0.28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Communist Party of Germany (AO) | 4,168 | 0.13 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Communist League of West Germany | 2,732 | 0.08 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | League of German Communists | 352 | 0.01 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | European Labour Committees | 23 | 0.00 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 91 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 3,230,420 | 100.00 | – | 55 | 55 | 110 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,230,420 | 98.96 | | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 33,789 | 1.04 | | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 3,264,209 | 100.00 | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 3,850,223 | 84.78 | | | | | |