# 1983 Hessian state election

The 1983 Hessian state election was held on 25 September 1983 to elect the 11th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a caretaker cabinet of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Holger Börner. The election was called after the Landtag's failure to elect a government after the 1982 election.
The result was a victory for the SPD, who clearly overtook the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to become the largest party, though still short of a majority. Despite pledging during the campaign not to work with the Greens, Börner negotiated a confidence agreement with the party and was re-elected as Minister-President in June 1984 with their support. This SPD minority government lasted until October 1985, when they formed a coalition with the Greens, the first such coalition in Germany.

## 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

The previous election, held on 26 September 1982, delivered an inconclusive result. Though the CDU and SPD remained first and second, respectively, with only slight losses, the FDP fell to 3% and lost their seats in the Landtag for the first time. At the same time, the new ecologist Green party entered with 8% and held the balance of power. The CDU offered to form a grand coalition, but Minister-President Börner refused and decided to continue his cabinet as a minority government, despite being the second largest party with no supporting partners. When the government's budget was defeated, Börner was forced to call early elections just a year after the last.

## Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 10th Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1982 result | 1982 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Walter Wallmann | 45.6% | 52 / 110 |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Holger Börner | 42.8% | 49 / 110 |
| | GRÜNE | The Greens Die Grünen | Green politics | Dirk Treber & Gertrud Schilling | 8.0% | 9 / 110 |

## Election result

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Con. | List | Total | +/- |
| | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 1,559,725 | 46.23 | 3.41 | 42 | 9 | 51 | 2 |
| | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 1,329,292 | 39.40 | 6.22 | 13 | 31 | 44 | 8 |
| | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 256,802 | 7.61 | 4.53 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| | The Greens (GRÜNE) | 200,415 | 5.94 | 2.09 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| | Liberal Democrats (LD) | 13,553 | 0.40 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | German Communist Party (DKP) | 8,697 | 0.26 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Democratic Socialists (DS) | 3,221 | 0.10 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | European Labour Party (EAP) | 1,224 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Foreigner Repatriation Action (AAR) | 890 | 0.03 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA) | 35 | 0.00 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 3,373,853 | 100.00 | | 55 | 55 | 110 | 0 |
| Invalid | Invalid | 30,803 | 0.90 | | | | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | 3,404,656 | 83.54 | 2.83 | | | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 4,075,611 | | | | | | |