Rhineland-Palatinate is a western state of Germany. It covers 19,846 km2 (7,663 sq mi) and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Koblenz, Trier, Kaiserslautern, Worms, and Neuwied. It is bordered by North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse and by France, Luxembourg and Belgium.
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany from 1990 to 1998 and, prior to German reunification, as the chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl’s 16-year tenure is the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck, and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany.
Bernhard Vogel is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 4th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988 and the 2nd Minister President of Thuringia from 1992 to 2003. He is the only person to have been head of two different German federal states and is the longest-governing Minister President of Germany. He served as the 28th and 40th President of the Bundesrat in 1976/77 and 1987/88.
The Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate is the state diet of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The 2006 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 26 March 2006 to elect the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Kurt Beck retained its majority. However, as the SPD won an outright majority, the FDP chose not to continue the coalition. Beck was subsequently re-elected as Minister-President.
The politics of Hesse takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Hesse. The state has a multi-party system where, as in most other states of former Western Germany and the federal level, the three main parties are the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
The 1991 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 21 April 1991 to elect the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The incumbent coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Carl-Ludwig Wagner was defeated, losing its majority. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) moved into first place, forming a coalition with the FDP. SPD leader Rudolf Scharping was subsequently elected as Minister-President.
Marie-Luise "Malu" Dreyer is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the 8th minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate from 2013 to 2024. She is the first woman to hold this office. She served a one-year-term as president of the Federal Council from 1 November 2016 – 31 October 2017, which made her deputy to the president of Germany while in office. She was the second female president of the Federal Council and the sixth woman holding one of the five highest federal offices in Germany. On 19 June 2024 she announced her resignation from the office of minister-president with effect from 10 July.
Julia Klöckner is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. Since 2012, she has also been part of the CDU leadership.
Wilhelm Boden was a German lawyer, civil servant and politician. From 1946 to 1947 he was the first Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The 2021 Baden-Württemberg state election was held on 14 March 2021 to elect the 17th Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. The outgoing government was a coalition of Alliance 90/The Greens and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann.
The 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 14 March 2021 to elect the 18th Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The outgoing government was a "traffic light coalition" of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Free Democratic Party (FDP), and The Greens led by Minister-President Malu Dreyer.
Anne Spiegel is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens. She served as Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 8 December 2021; she announced her resignation on 11 April and was dismissed by the President on 25 April 2022
Montabaur is an electoral constituency represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 203. It is located in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the district of Westerwaldkreis and the eastern part of the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis district.
The Third Dreyer cabinet was the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate from 18 May 2021 until 10 July 2024. It was sworn in on 18 May after Malu Dreyer was elected as Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate by the members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was the 25th Cabinet of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Research and Culture since 2001. She has been a part of the State Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate since the 2006 elections. She is also a member of the German Bundesrat for Rhineland-Palatinate.
The First Kohl cabinet was the state government of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate from 19 May 1969 until 18 May 1971. The Cabinet was headed by Minister President Helmut Kohl and was formed by the Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party after the resignation of Minister President Peter Altmeier. On 19 May 1969 Kohl was elected and sworn in as Minister President by the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was succeeded by Kohl's second and third cabinets.
The 2026 Rhineland-Palatinate state election will be held in 2026 to elect the 19th Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Heinz Schwarz was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) who was a long-time member of the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate, serving as the state's minister of the interior. From 1976 to 1990, he was a member of the Bundestag.
