The 2005 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was held on 22 May 2005 to elect the 14th Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Peer Steinbrück. The result was a landslide defeat for the SPD, as the party suffered its worst result in 50 years at 37% and was ousted from government for the first time since 1966. The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Jürgen Rüttgers won a commanding victory with 45% of votes and came just short of a majority in the Landtag. The Greens also suffered losses, as did the Free Democratic Party (FDP), with both finishing on 6.2%. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the FDP, and Rüttgers was elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 22 June. The result had important ramifications outside North Rhine-Westphalia: such a crushing defeat for the SPD in a stronghold state was viewed as an indication of unpopularity of the federal government led by Gerhard Schröder. On the evening of the election, Schröder announced he would seek an early federal election. Electoral system The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 128 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 53 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. The minimum size of the Landtag was 181 members, but if overhang seats were present, proportional leveling seats were added to ensure proportionality. Since the previous election in 2000, an electoral reform had been passed which reduced the number of single-member constituencies by 23 and the overall size of the Landtag by 20 members. 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 14 May 2000, the SPD suffered losses and slid to 43% of the vote, while the CDU recorded another poor performance with 37%. The Greens also declined to 7% while the FDP recovered to 10% and re-entered the Landtag. The outgoing SPD–Green government retained a reduced majority and was renewed for a second term. In November 2002, Minister-President Wolfgang Clement resigned to join the second Schröder cabinet as minister for economics and labour. He was succeeded by state finance minister Peer Steinbrück, who continued the coalition with the Greens. Parties The table below lists parties