# 1982 Hessian state election

The 1982 Hessian state election was held on 26 September 1982 to elect the 10th 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 election produced an inconclusive result, with neither the SPD nor the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) achieving a majority. The FDP, who during the campaign voted to end cooperation with the SPD and opt for a coalition with the CDU post-election, fell below the 5% electoral threshold and lost their representation in the Landtag for the first time. Balance of power was held by the new Green party, who won 8%. As neither party was willing to work with the Greens, Holger Börner attempted to continue in office as a minority government; however, his budget was defeated in the Landtag and new elections were called just a year later in 1983.

## 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 October 1978, the incumbent SPD–FDP coalition retained its majority and was renewed for a third term. The CDU remained the largest party, though there was a small swing from them to the SPD. Two small green parties ran for the first time and finished with about 1% each, becoming the largest non-parliamentary parties in the state. They federated into the new national party The Greens in 1980, which ran for the first time in 1982.

## Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 9th Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1978 result | 1978 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Alfred Dregger | 46.0% | 53 / 110 |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Holger Börner | 44.2% | 50 / 110 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Ekkehard Gries | 6.6% | 7 / 110 |

## Results

| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Con. | List | Total | +– |
| | Christian Democratic Union | 1,580,989 | 45.62 | –0.40 | 33 | 19 | 52 | –1 |
| | Social Democratic Party | 1,483,930 | 42.82 | +1.47 | 22 | 27 | 49 | –1 |
| | The Greens | 278,450 | 8.03 | +6.03 | 0 | 9 | 9 | +9 |
| | Free Democratic Party | 106,901 | 3.08 | –3.49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –7 |
| | German Communist Party | 12,625 | 0.36 | –0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | European Workers' Party | 2,377 | 0.07 | +0.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independents | 221 | 0.01 | +0.01 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 3,465,493 | 100.00 | – | 55 | 55 | 110 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,465,493 | 99.06 | | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 32,914 | 0.94 | | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 3,498,407 | 100.00 | | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 4,050,661 | 86.37 | | | | | |