2020 North Rhine-Westphalia local elections

Last updated February 19, 2024

Local elections were held in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on 13 September 2020 to elect district, municipal, and city councils and local boards, as well as mayors in most cities and district administrators in most districts. The 91-member Ruhr Parliament was also elected for the first time. Runoff elections for mayors and district administrators were held on 27 September where necessary.^[1]

Background and electoral system

Local elections take place every five years in North-Rhine Westphalia. However, the previous round of elections had taken place in May 2014. These offices were granted an extraordinary one-time extension to six and a half years in order to synchronise municipal and district council terms with those of mayors and district administrators. The latter offices previously had terms of six years, which was reduced to five years from 2020 onwards. All offices were thus elected simultaneously in September 2020.^[1]^[2]

Most bodies with multiple members, such as councils, are elected via mixed-member proportional representation, with half of the membership elected in single-member constituencies. Voters have one vote, which is cast for both a constituency candidate and associated party list. There is no electoral threshold. Local boards and the Ruhr Parliament are elected via pure party-list proportional representation with a 2.5% threshold. Elections to a single position, such as mayors and district administrators, are conducted via the two-round system.^[1]

The number of members on each district and city/municipal council is determined by the number of residents it serves, and may vary between 20 and 90 members, not counting overhang and leveling seats that can emerge during elections. Councils may legislate to reduce their number of members by up to ten relative to the size bracket they fall into, to a minimum of 20 members.^[2]

Parties

The table below lists the results of the 2014 local elections in the rural districts and the urban districts.^[3]

Name			Ideology	2014 result
Name			Ideology	Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	Christian democracy	37.5%	1,309 / 3,494
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	Social democracy	31.4%	1,109 / 3,494
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens	Green politics	11.7%	396 / 3,494
	Linke	The Left	Democratic socialism	4.7%	164 / 3,494
	WG	Voter Groups	Localism	4.5%	160 / 3,494
	FDP	Free Democratic Party	Classical liberalism	4.7%	159 / 3,494
	AfD	Alternative for Germany	Right-wing populism	2.6%	89 / 3,494
	Piraten	Pirate Party Germany	Pirate politics	1.7%	56 / 3,494
	Others		–	1.2%	52 / 3,494

Results

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	+/-
	Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)	2,495,743	34.3	3.2	1,213	96
	Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)	1,766,181	24.3	7.1	912	197
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	1,452,571	20.0	8.3	705	309
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	405,139	5.6	0.8	198	39
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	367,433	5.0	2.5	185	96
	Voter Groups (WG)	323,825	4.4	0.1	170	10
	The Left (LINKE)	277,781	3.8	0.8	137	27
	Die PARTEI	76,317	1.0	1.0	34	31
	Volt Germany (Volt)	37,590	0.5	New	13	New
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	24,815	0.3	1.3	10	46
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	6,990	0.1	0.0	3	1
	Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutzpartei)	6,751	0.1	0.1	3	2
	Action Party for Animal Protection (Tierschutz hier!)	5,172	0.1	New	2	New
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	4,907	0.1	0.1	2	1
	Aufbruch C	3,967	0.1	New	2	New
	Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)	3,553	0.0	0.1	2	1
	German Communist Party (DKP)	2,886	0.0	0.0	2	0
	Democracy by Referendum (Volksabstimmung)	3,021	0.0	0.0	1	0
	The Right (Die Rechte)	2,582	0.0	0.0	1	1
	Centre Party (Zentrum)	2,238	0.0	0.1	1	0
	Party for Social Affairs and Ecology (SO!)	1,896	0.0	0.0	1	0
	Other parties	5,197	0.1	1.3	0	35
	Independents	1,667	0.0	0.0	0	0
Total		7,277,932	100.0		3,598	104
Blank/invalid votes		108,285	1.5
Registered voters/turnout		14,235,746	51.9	1.9
Source: State Returning Officer

Results in independent cities

City councils
City	CDU	SPD	Grüne	FDP	AfD	Linke	PARTEI	Volt	WG	Others
City									WG	Others
Cologne	21.5	21.6	28.5	5.3	4.4	6.5	2.5	5.0	4.7	0.2
Düsseldorf	33.4	17.9	24.0	9.2	3.6	4.1	1.8	1.8	1.8	2.4
Dortmund	22.5	30.0	24.8	3.5	5.5	5.6	2.8	–	1.9	3.3
Essen	34.4	24.3	18.6	3.0	7.5	3.9	2.5	0.2	3.3	2.3
Duisburg	21.5	30.8	17.7	3.1	9.3	5.5	1.1	–	10.4	0.5
Bochum	20.8	33.7	22.2	3.3	5.6	6.1	2.3	–	5.7	0.3
Wuppertal	24.2	28.9	19.6	7.2	6.1	6.6	2.7	–	4.3	0.3
Bielefeld	27.7	24.9	22.3	7.0	3.4	6.1	2.9	–	4.4	1.0
Bonn	25.7	15.6	27.9	5.2	3.2	6.2	2.2	5.1	7.1	2.0
Münster	32.7	17.6	30.3	4.6	2.2	4.9	2.1	2.6	1.2	1.8
Mönchengladbach	34.0	25.2	21.2	5.5	5.9	4.1	2.7	–	–	1.4
Gelsenkirchen	23.2	35.1	12.2	4.0	12.9	3.5	2.0	–	4.8	2.2
Aachen	24.8	18.3	34.1	4.9	3.7	4.6	2.3	3.7	1.6	1.9
Krefeld	30.4	28.5	20.1	5.8	5.4	3.2	2.5	–	3.6	0.5
Oberhausen	32.8	31.7	14.4	3.0	7.6	5.1	–	–	4.6	0.8
Hagen	27.5	25.5	13.3	4.6	9.3	2.9	2.8	–	13.0	1.0
Hamm	33.4	37.1	12.7	5.1	4.7	2.9	–	–	3.8	0.3
Mülheim an der Ruhr	26.3	21.3	23.4	4.7	7.2	2.7	4.4	–	9.6	0.4
Leverkusen	27.8	25.2	18.2	4.8	5.7	4.5	–	–	14.8	–
Solingen	30.2	28.3	18.2	5.5	5.0	4.2	2.4	–	5.9	0.1
Herne	20.0	44.1	15.8	3.3	8.4	4.1	–	–	2.5	1.7
Bottrop	23.9	40.2	12.8	4.1	7.0	3.4	–	–	–	8.4
Remscheid	29.9	34.5	14.7	5.3	1.0	4.6	–	–	10.2	–

Mayors
City	Elected mayor		Party/Ticket	Result
City	Elected mayor		Party/Ticket	1st round	2nd round
Cologne		Henriette Reker	Independent	45.1%	59.3%
Düsseldorf		Stephan Keller	CDU	34.1%	56.0%
Dortmund		Thomas Westphal	SPD	35.9%	52.1%
Essen		Thomas Kufen	CDU	54.3%
Bochum		Thomas Eiskirch	SPD/Grüne	61.8%
Wuppertal		Uwe Schneidewind	CDU/Grüne	40.8%	53.5%
Bielefeld		Pit Clausen	SPD	39.7%	56.1%
Bonn		Katja Dörner	Grüne	27.6%	56.3%
Münster		Markus Lewe	CDU	44.6%	52.6%
Mönchengladbach		Felix Heinrichs	SPD	74.2%
Gelsenkirchen		Karin Welge	SPD	40.4%	59.4%
Aachen		Sibylle Keupen	Grüne	38.9%	67.4%
Krefeld		Frank Meyer	SPD	43.4%	62.4%
Oberhausen		Daniel Schranz	CDU	45.5%	62.1%
Hagen		Erik O. Schulz	CDU/Grüne/FDP	51.1%
Hamm		Marc Herter	SPD	40.7%	63.6%
Mülheim an der Ruhr		Marc Buchholz	CDU	25.4%	56.9%
Leverkusen		Uwe Richrath	SPD	46.1%	70.0%
Solingen		Tim-Oliver Kurzbach	SPD/Grüne	55.4%
Herne		Frank Dudda	SPD	63.4%
Bottrop		Bernd Tischler	SPD	73.1%
Remscheid		Burkhard Mast-Weisz	SPD/Grüne	60.6%

Results in districts

District councils
City	CDU	SPD	Grüne	FDP	AfD	Linke	PARTEI	Pirate	WG	Others
City									WG	Others
Recklinghausen	33.6	30.4	17.2	4.5	7.1	4.2	–	–	2.9	0.2
Rhein-Sieg-Kreis	39.4	21.5	21.8	5.7	4.6	3.2	–	1.2	1.2	1.4
Aachen	31.9	25.1	24.6	5.0	4.9	3.7	2.0	1.2	1.0	0.6
Mettmann	38.6	17.3	22.5	6.4	5.6	3.2	–	1.9	4.6	–
Rhein-Erft-Kreis	38.0	24.7	18.6	5.2	5.4	3.2	–	1.5	3.4	–
Wesel	32.8	29.7	19.0	5.5	5.6	4.1	–	–	3.3	–
Rhein-Kreis Neuss	37.8	23.2	19.0	6.9	4.5	2.3	1.9	–	3.3	1.2
Steinfurt	39.6	24.3	19.4	5.8	3.0	3.1	–	–	4.8	–
Märkischer Kreis	38.1	22.8	14.2	7.5	5.7	4.3	–	–	7.2	–
Unna	27.2	32.1	19.3	4.8	5.0	3.4	–	–	6.5	1.6
Borken	49.4	15.8	15.0	6.0	2.9	2.1	–	–	8.7	0.1
Gütersloh	39.1	19.2	21.0	5.8	4.4	2.4	0.4	–	7.6	–
Lippe	29.4	29.7	19.7	6.9	5.8	3.2	–	–	2.6	2.6
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis	26.8	31.3	20.8	5.8	5.3	3.8	–	2.5	3.7	–
Kleve	44.1	19.6	19.6	6.4	4.0	1.8	–	–	4.4	–
Minden-Lübbecke	35.8	28.3	16.8	6.5	5.9	2.8	–	–	3.5	0.4
Paderborn	46.8	15.5	18.2	5.6	4.9	3.2	2.2	–	2.8	0.6
Soest	41.9	20.3	16.4	6.7	4.5	2.7	–	–	6.0	1.4
Viersen	42.0	19.4	20.9	7.1	3.9	2.8	2.0	0.5	1.4	–
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	37.2	18.8	24.4	6.5	4.8	2.9	–	–	5.4	–
Warendorf	41.3	20.7	18.8	6.3	3.4	2.5	1.5	–	5.6	–
Siegen-Wittgenstein	33.7	30.0	14.0	6.1	6.7	3.5	–	–	6.0	–
Oberbergischer Kreis	39.4	21.4	17.3	7.0	5.9	3.0	–	–	6.0	–
Düren	41.0	25.2	15.0	4.4	6.4	2.6	–	1.1	4.3	0.1
Hochsauerlandkreis	48.3	21.2	13.6	6.1	3.7	2.0	–	–	5.1	–
Heinsberg	51.5	15.6	16.7	4.9	4.3	2.7	–	–	3.8	0.5
Herford	29.9	35.4	16.0	3.8	5.9	3.3	2.9	–	2.9	–
Coesfeld	47.0	16.9	21.7	5.5	0.6	2.3	–	–	3.9	2.1
Euskirchen	38.5	23.9	15.1	7.9	6.5	2.4	0.8	–	4.9	–
Höxter	46.6	18.1	14.4	4.9	4.4	1.8	0.5	–	9.3	–
Olpe	51.6	18.4	12.2	4.3	4.0	2.0	–	–	7.5	–

District administrators
City	Elected administrator		Party/Ticket	Result
City	Elected administrator		Party/Ticket	1st round	2nd round
Recklinghausen		Bodo Klimpel	CDU/FDP	38.3%	50.5%
Rhein-Sieg-Kreis		Sebastian Schuster	CDU	53.2%
Aachen	No election
Mettmann		Thomas Hendele	CDU	51.0%
Rhein-Erft-Kreis		Frank Rock	CDU	44.5%	57.3%
Wesel		Ingo Brohl	CDU	36.4	53.5%
Rhein-Kreis Neuss		Hans-Jürgen Petrauschke	CDU	49.7^%	59.8%
Steinfurt		Martin Sommer	Independent	28.1%	68.7%
Märkischer Kreis		Marco Voge	CDU	42.1%	56.3%
Unna		Mario Löhr	SPD	41.1%	61.9%
Borken		Kai Zwicker	CDU	67.2%
Gütersloh		Sven-Georg Adenauer	CDU	54.4%
Lippe		Axel Lehmann	SPD	40.3%	56.0%
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis		Olaf Schade	SPD/GRÜNE	61.6%
Kleve		Silke Gorißen	CDU	48.7%	54.2%
Minden-Lübbecke		Anna Katharina Bölling	CDU	46.3	63.7%
Paderborn		Christoph Rüther	CDU	53.4%
Soest		Eva Irrgang	CDU	56.5%
Viersen		Andreas Coenen	CDU	54.1%
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	No election
Warendorf		Olaf Gericke	CDU/FDP	63.2%
Siegen-Wittgenstein		Andreas Müller	SPD	54.4%
Oberbergischer Kreis		Jochen Hagt	CDU	63.5%
Düren		Wolfgang Spelthahn	CDU	57.8%
Hochsauerlandkreis		Karl Schneider	CDU	58.7%
Heinsberg		Stephan Pusch	CDU	79.9%
Herford		Jürgen Müller	SPD/GRÜNE	56.3%
Coesfeld		Christian Schulze Pellengahr	CDU	66.7%
Euskirchen		Markus Ramers	SPD	40.1%	60.4%
Höxter		Michael Stickeln	CDU	72.9%
Olpe		Theo Melcher	CDU	65.8%

Ruhr Parliament

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)	540,753	29.9	29
	Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)	499,847	27.2	27
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	373,953	20.3	20
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	129,822	7.1	7
	The Left (LINKE)	75,769	4.1	4
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	68,096	3.7	4
	Die PARTEI	39,804	2.2	0
	Action Party for Animal Protection (Tierschutz hier!)	36,601	2.0	0
	Free Voters NRW (FW)	14,733	0.8	0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	12,963	0.7	0
	Volt Germany (Volt)	9,512	0.5	0
	Duisburger Alternative List (DAL)	7,308	0.4	0
	UWG: Free Citizens	5,528	0.3	0
	Independent Citizens Party (UBP)	5,210	0.3	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	4,949	0.3	0
	National Alliance Ruhr Region	4,239	0.2	0
	Idea Community Ruhr (iGemRuhr)	3,570	0.2	0
	The Violets (DIE VIOLETTEN)	2,671	0.1	0
	Alliance C – Christians for Germany (Bündnis C)	1,894	0.1	0
	Grassroots Democracy Now (Basisdemokratie jetzt)	1,834	0.1	0
	Active (Aktiv)	1,072	0.1	0
Total		1,840,128	100.0	91
Blank/invalid votes		35,191	1.9
Registered voters/turnout		3,983,971	47.1
Source: State Returning Officer

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References

1 2 3 4 "Local elections". Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). Retrieved 5 November 2022.
1 2 "Local election law in North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 31 March 2021.
↑ "Local elections 2014". State Returning Officer (in German). 25 May 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

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[IM-1] 1 2 3 4 "Local elections". Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia (in German). Retrieved 5 November 2022.

[Wahlrecht-2] 1 2 "Local election law in North Rhine-Westphalia". Wahlrecht.de (in German). 31 March 2021.

[3] "Local elections 2014". State Returning Officer (in German). 25 May 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

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