The 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 14 March 2021 to elect the 18th Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate.^[1] 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.

Quick Facts All 101 seats in the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate 51 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election

← 2016 14 March 2021 2026 →
All 101 seats in the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate 51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	1,957,990 (64.4%) 6.0%
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Malu Dreyer Christian Baldauf Anne Spiegel Party SPD CDU Greens Leader's seat Trier Frankenthal List Last election 39 seats, 36.2% 35 seats, 31.8% 6 seats, 5.3% Seats won 39 31 10 Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 690,962 535,318 179,860 Percentage 35.7% 27.7% 9.3% Swing 0.5% 4.1% 4.0%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Candidate Michael Frisch Daniela Schmitt Joachim Streit Party AfD FDP FW Leader's seat List List List Last election 14 seats, 12.6% 7 seats, 6.2% 0 seats, 2.2% Seats won 9 6 6 Seat change 5 1 6 Popular vote 160,293 106,809 103,619 Percentage 8.3% 5.5% 5.4% Swing 4.3% 0.7% 3.2%
Results for the single-member constituencies
Government before election Second Dreyer cabinet SPD–FDP–Green Government after election Third Dreyer cabinet SPD–Green–FDP

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The SPD won an unexpectedly clear plurality of 35.7% of votes cast, less than one percentage point lower than their 2016 result.^[2] The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished on 27.7%, a decline of four percentage points, its worst result in the state to date. The Greens moved from fifth to third place with 9.3%. Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw the worst losses of any party, falling to 8.3%. The Free Democratic Party recorded a small decline to 5.5% but retained their seats. The Free Voters (FW) entered the Landtag for the first time with 5.4%, marking their third appearance in a state parliament overall, following Bavaria and Brandenburg.^[3]

Overall, the incumbent government was returned with an increased majority. After the election, Minister-President Dreyer expressed her desire to renew the outgoing coalition.^[4] On 30 April, the SPD, Greens, and FDP came to a coalition agreement.^[5] Dreyer was re-elected as Minister-President on 18 May.^[6]

The period of the 17th Landtag began on 18 April 2016. Landtag elections may take place between 57 and 60 months after the commencement of the term of the previous Landtag; thus, the election may take place between February and May 2021.^[7] On 11 February 2020, the state government announced the date of the election as 14 March 2021.^[1] A state election was held on the same day in neighbouring state of Baden-Württemberg.

The Landtag is elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 52 members are elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting. 49 members are then allocated using compensatory proportional representation, distributed in four multi-member districts.^[8] Voters have two votes: the "first vote" for candidates in single-member constituencies, and the "second vote" for party lists, which are used to fill the proportional seats. The minimum size of the Landtag is 101 members, but if overhang seats are present, proportional leveling seats will be added to ensure proportionality. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are excluded.^[9]

In the previous election held on 13 March 2016, the SPD retained its position as the largest party ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Alternative for Germany (AfD) contested its first election in Rhineland-Palatinate, placing third with 12.6%. The FDP returned to the Landtag after falling out in 2011, winning 6.2% and 7 seats. The Greens narrowly retained their representation with 5.3%, a loss of 10.1 percentage points.

The SPD had led a coalition with the Greens since 2011 but lost its majority in the election. The SPD subsequently formed a coalition with the FDP and Greens.

The table below lists the parties represented in the 17th Landtag.

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, eight other parties contested the election:^[10]

The result was considered a victory for the SPD, contrasting a long string of losses in other state, federal, and local elections since 2018.^[4] Their success was attributed to the popularity of incumbent Minister-President Dreyer during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.^[20][21] After the election, the SPD's federal Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz voiced his support for a "traffic light" coalition on the federal level.^[2]

The CDU's poorer-than-expected result was attributed in part to local factors, such as Dreyer's popularity and the difficulty faced by the opposition when campaigning during pandemic conditions.^[21][22] Commentators also pointed to federal factors, such as the unpopularity of newly-elected federal CDU chairman Armin Laschet, poor management of the pandemic by federal government, and particularly the "mask scandal" which broke a few days before the election.^[20][4] The result was perceived as harming the CDU/CSU's standing ahead of the September federal election, and damaging Laschet's chances of being selected as the Union's candidate for Chancellor.^[20]

• 2021 Baden-Württemberg state election