# 1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election

The 1962 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 8 July 1962 to elect the 5th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a majority of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Franz Meyers.
The CDU lost its majority with a decline of four percentage points to 46%, but remained the largest party by a small margin. The opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) saw a corresponding gain of four points and won 43%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) remained steady on 7%. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the FDP, and Franz Meyers continued as Minister-President.

## Electoral system

The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation and had a term of four years. 150 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and fifty 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. Overhang seats were not compensated.

## Background

In the previous election held on 6 July 1958, the CDU won a landslide victory and took an absolute majority of both votes and seats. The SPD also achieved a swing in its favour, while the FDP and other minors parties suffered losses. The outgoing SPD-led coalition lost its majority and was replaced by a majority government of the CDU led by Franz Meyers.

## Parties

| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1958 result | 1958 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Franz Meyers | 50.5% | 104 / 200 |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Heinz Kühn | 39.2% | 81 / 200 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Willi Weyer | 7.1% | 15 / 200 |

## Results

901496 :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Con. | List | Total | +/– |
| | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 3,752,116 | 46.42 | –4.05 | 76 | 20 | 96 | –8 |
| | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 3,497,179 | 43.27 | +4.07 | 74 | 16 | 90 | +9 |
| | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 553,426 | 6.85 | –0.27 | 0 | 14 | 14 | –1 |
| | German Peace Union (DFU) | 164,333 | 2.03 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Centre Party (ZENTRUM) | 75,291 | 0.93 | –0.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| | All-German Party (GDP) | 34,526 | 0.43 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | German Community (DG) | 4,917 | 0.06 | +0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independent Workers' Party (UAP) | 426 | 0.01 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 353 | 0.00 | ±0.00 | – | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| Total | Total | 8,082,567 | 100.00 | – | 150 | 50 | 200 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 8,082,567 | 98.70 | | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 106,421 | 1.30 | | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 8,188,988 | 100.00 | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 11,156,285 | 73.40 | | | | | |
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