2025 North Rhine-Westphalia local elections

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14 September 2025

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All municipal and district council seats in North Rhine-Westphalia

Turnout

56.8% (

4.9%)

	First party	Second party	Third party

Party	CDU	SPD	AfD
Last election	1,213 seats, 34.3%	912 seats, 24.3%	185 seats, 5.0%
Seats won	1,205	827	552
Seat change	8	86	366
Popular vote	2,618,138	1,739,246	1,140,055
Percentage	33.3%	22.1%	14.5%
Swing	1.0	2.2	9.4

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Party	Greens	Left	FDP
Last election	705 seats, 20.0%	137 seats, 3.8%	198 seats, 5.6%
Seats won	466	200	131
Seat change	239	63	66
Popular vote	1,062,436	438,452	289,700
Percentage	13.5%	5.6%	3.7%
Swing	6.5	1.8	1.9

Leading party by district

Local elections in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia took place on 14 September 2025 to elect district, municipal, and city councils and local boards, as well as mayors in most cities and district administrators in most districts. Runoff elections for mayors and district administrators will be held on 28 September if necessary.^[1]^[2] There was no five percent hurdle unlike in federal elections.^[3]

All German and EU citizens aged 16 or over on election day are eligible to vote if they had lived in a municipality for at least sixteen days.^[1]

Events

During the election seven candidates of Alternative for Germany (AfD) died, sparking conspiracy theories on social media.^[4] The candidates were between the ages of 42 and 80 and - with the exception of one 42-year-old man, who committed suicide - died of natural causes, according to police. Martin Vincentz, chair of the AfD North Rhine-Westphalia said that there was "no indication of an unnatural cause of death", but "if many people see the possibility of a political murder, it's a consequence of the ruthless fight against the AfD over the past few years."^[5]

The elected mayor of Herdecke Iris Stalzer (SPD) was stabbed by her adopted daughter on 7 October 2025. She was found in a life-threatening condition and taken to hospital via helicopter.^[6] Stalzer has since made a full recovery and was sworn in as the mayor of Herdecke on 4 November 2025.^[7]

In 2025, the far-right Third Way party won a seat in the North Rhein-Westphalia local elections.^[8]

Results

The following shows the result of the elections to the district councils and district free cities.


Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	2,618,138	33.26	1,205	8
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	1,739,246	22.10	827	86
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	1,140,055	14.48	552	366
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	1,062,436	13.50	466	239
	The Left (DIE LINKE)	438,452	5.57	200	63
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	289,700	3.68	131	66
	Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW)	85,884	1.09	40	New
	Volt Germany (Volt)	86,926	1.10	32	19
	Die PARTEI (Die PARTEI)	58,527	0.74	26	8
	Action Party for Animal Welfare (Tierschutz hier!)	14,243	0.18	6	3
	Free Voters (FW)	8,862	0.11	4	New
	Human Environment Animal Protection Party (Tierschutzpartei)	7,708	0.10	3
	Pirate Party (PIRATEN)	6,330	0.08	3	7
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	2,426	0.03	2	1
	Family Party (FAMILIE)	2,085	0.03	1	1
	Centre Party (ZENTRUM)	1,615	0.02	1
	German Communist Party (DKP)	825	0.01	1	1
	Other parties	13,081	0.17	–	6
	Grouping of electors	293,326	3.73	148	23
	Independents	1,634	0.02	–
Total		7,871,499	100.00	3,648	48

Valid votes		7,871,499	98.99	0.5%
Invalid/blank votes		80,249	1.01	0.5%
Total votes		7,951,748	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		13,998,669	56.80	4.9%
Source: North Rhine-Westphalia - State Returning Officer - Minister of the Interior^[9]

Results in independent cities

City councils
City	CDU	SPD	AfD	Grüne	Linke	FDP	BSW	Volt	PARTEI	WG	Others
City										WG	Others
Cologne	19.9	19.9	9.1	25.0	10.8	3.9	1.9	5.0	1.8	2.5	0.1
Düsseldorf	33.5	14.9	10.6	21.9	6.4	4.9	1.6	2.5	1.0	1.6	1.0
Dortmund	22.1	24.9	16.6	16.5	8.0	2.1	2.0	1.4	1.8	2.6	2.1
Essen	30.2	22.6	16.9	12.3	5.8	1.9	1.5	1.5	1.8	3.6	1.7
Duisburg	17.4	32.6	21.2	9.1	6.0	1.5	2.1	0.5	0.4	9.2	0.2
Bochum	20.0	28.1	14.9	14.4	9.5	1.9	1.7	1.5	1.3	5.9	0.7
Wuppertal	22.2	28.8	17.1	11.4	8.4	4.2	2.5	0.4	1.4	2.9	0.5
Bielefeld	29.4	21.7	12.2	15.0	10.5	4.8	1.2	1.2	1.6	1.6	0.8
Bonn	31.9	11.8	6.0	26.3	8.7	2.9	1.1	2.7	0.9	7.0	0.5
Münster	31.3	14.1	4.5	31.6	8.4	2.9	–	4.0	1.1	0.9	1.0
Mönchengladbach	33.2	28.4	15.6	8.6	5.6	2.8	2.1	1.3	1.9	0.4
Gelsenkirchen	19.2	30.4	29.9	4.6	4.3	2.7	1.6	–	0.8	4.4	2.2
Aachen	32.8	13.4	7.7	27.8	7.7	2.7	1.7	3.0	1.3	1.7	0.1
Krefeld	30.5	25.9	15.6	11.2	5.5	3.5	–	–	1.7	2.8	3.3
Oberhausen	26.8	26.1	21.5	8.2	5.7	2.1	2.3	–	2.3	2.3	2.8
Hagen	26.4	19.9	22.4	7.4	3.9	3.0	3.1	–	1.1	12.0	0.8
Hamm	22.9	46.1	16.3	4.7	2.7	2.0	1.8	0.9	–	2.5	–
Mülheim an der Ruhr	30.1	25.5	15.1	14.2	4.7	3.2	–	–	2.2	4.7	0.3
Leverkusen	31.0	21.5	15.3	10.9	5.1	3.3	–	2.5	–	10.0	0.4
Solingen	29.9	17.7	15.0	11.3	5.2	2.0	–	–	1.3	16.5	1.0
Herne	17.8	37.0	22.4	8.5	5.6	1.8	2.2	–	–	3.5	1.2
Bottrop	26.8	31.6	21.8	6.7	4.7	2.4	–	–	–	–	6.1
Remscheid	27.0	31.3	16.1	8.4	6.4	4.2	–	–	–	6.6	–

Mayors
City	Elected mayor		Party/Ticket	Result
City	Elected mayor		Party/Ticket	1st round	2nd round
Cologne		Torsten Burmester	SPD	21.3%	53.5%
Düsseldorf		Stephan Keller	CDU	43.6%	60.5%
Dortmund		Alexander Kalouti	CDU	17.0%	52.9%
Essen		Thomas Kufen	CDU	42.3%	57.1%
Bochum		Jörg Lukat	SPD/Grüne	43.1%	64.7%
Wuppertal		Miriam Scherff	SPD	33.3%	74.6%
Bielefeld		Christiana Bauer	CDU	33.0%	51.4%
Bonn		Guido Déus	CDU	38.9%	54.0%
Münster		Tilman Fuchs	Grüne	41.3%	57.9%
Mönchengladbach		Felix Heinrichs	SPD	43.4%	63.6%
Gelsenkirchen		Andrea Henze	SPD	37.0%	66.9%
Aachen		Michael Ziemons	CDU	40.5%	56.0%
Krefeld		Frank Meyer	SPD	35.9%	55.0%
Oberhausen		Thorsten Berg	SPD	31.1%	51.3%
Hagen		Dennis Rehbein	CDU	25.1%	71.7%
Hamm		Marc Herter	SPD	63.6%
Mülheim an der Ruhr		Nadia Khalaf	SPD	28.0%	50.1%
Leverkusen		Stefan Hebbel	CDU	35.9%	56.6%
Solingen		Daniel Flemm	CDU	31.7%	57.8%
Herne		Frank Dudda	SPD	51.5%
Bottrop		Matthias Buschfeld	SPD	38.5%	61.9%
Remscheid		Sven Wolf	SPD	41.5%	68.0%

Results in districts

District councils
City	CDU	SPD	AfD	Grüne	Linke	FDP	BSW	Volt	PARTEI	WG	Others
City										WG	Others
Recklinghausen	33.4	27.5	19.6	9.3	4.4	2.7	2.4	0.4	0.2	–	–
Rhein-Sieg-Kreis	38.7	19.8	13.3	14.6	3.8	3.8	1.9	2.5	–	1.2	0.5
Aachen	36.7	19.8	12.8	16.1	5.7	3.1	1.1	2.1	1.6	0.9	–
Mettmann	36.1	16.9	14.6	14.5	4.3	5.5	–	–	–	4.0	4.1
Rhein-Erft-Kreis	37.2	20.9	14.7	13.3	4.4	3.5	1.9	0.8	–	2.2	1.1
Wesel	33.2	29.0	13.5	10.8	5.5	3.5	–	0.6	–	3.9	–
Rhein-Kreis Neuss	38.8	22.0	12.7	12.0	3.8	5.0	0.8	0.6	1.5	1.9	0.8
Steinfurt	39.6	22.7	10.8	13.8	5.1	4.0	–	–	–	4.0	–
Märkischer Kreis	37.0	19.1	18.3	7.8	5.8	4.6	1.5	–	–	5.9	–
Unna	27.2	30.8	17.0	10.0	4.7	2.7	1.4	1.1	0.3	4.8	0.1
Borken	47.6	15.0	10.1	9.6	3.8	4.3	1.3	–	–	8.2	–
Gütersloh	39.7	18.2	13.7	13.0	4.6	4.2	–	0.6	–	6.0	–
Lippe	28.3	27.0	16.9	11.8	4.4	4.1	–	–	0.9	3.5	3.2
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis	26.0	28.9	16.7	12.9	5.5	4.5	2.0	0.1	1.2	2.1	0.2
Kleve	43.4	18.1	13.0	12.4	4.6	4.8	–	–	–	3.7	–
Minden-Lübbecke	33.1	26.5	18.1	8.9	4.8	4.8	–	–	0.3	3.5	0.0
Paderborn	44.5	12.0	15.1	14.3	5.2	3.4	1.3	–	1.5	2.7	–
Soest	39.5	19.9	13.8	10.6	3.8	5.1	1.5	–	0.1	5.8	–
Viersen	40.5	16.3	13.2	15.7	4.2	5.1	–	1.1	2.3	1.7	–
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis	37.3	17.6	12.0	16.8	4.6	4.6	–	3.2	–	3.7	–
Warendorf	41.2	17.9	10.8	13.2	4.7	4.3	–	–	0.3	5.8	1.7
Siegen-Wittgenstein	32.2	25.4	17.0	7.9	4.8	4.8	–	2.2	–	3.1	2.6
Oberbergischer Kreis	36.3	20.5	18.1	9.6	4.3	4.0	2.4	–	–	4.9	–
Düren	38.6	21.0	17.9	9.0	3.8	2.8	2.1	0.7	–	4.1	–
Hochsauerlandkreis	46.6	22.3	12.1	7.2	3.2	3.9	–	–	–	4.7	–
Heinsberg	46.7	13.8	16.2	11.1	3.8	3.8	–	–	0.4	4.3	–
Herford	29.8	29.6	18.1	9.0	5.2	3.3	–	0.3	1.9	2.9	–
Coesfeld	47.1	15.6	9.1	16.0	3.5	3.7	–	–	–	3.2	1.8
Euskirchen	34.7	24.7	16.0	8.5	4.0	6.6	1.1	–	–	4.0	0.5
Höxter	44.8	15.6	14.5	8.8	3.3	3.5	–	–	–	9.5	–
Olpe	49.1	17.9	12.0	8.1	2.5	2.9	0.5	–	–	6.9	–

District administrators^[10]
City	Elected administrator		Party/Ticket	Result
City	Elected administrator		Party/Ticket	1st round	2nd round
Recklinghausen		Bodo Klimpel	CDU/FDP	39.8%	51.9%
Rhein-Sieg-Kreis		Sebastian Schuster	CDU	45.0%	56.2%
Aachen		Tim Grüttemeier	CDU	44.3%	62.5%
Mettmann		Bettina Warnecke	CDU	57.9%
Rhein-Erft-Kreis		Frank Rock	CDU	45.9%	62.9%
Wesel		Ingo Brohl	CDU/Grüne	46.6%	57.4%
Rhein-Kreis Neuss		Katharina-Bernhardine Reinhold	CDU	45.9%	62.8%
Steinfurt		Martin Sommer	Independent	28.1%	70.5%
Märkischer Kreis		Ralf Michael Schwarzkopf	CDU	56.2%
Unna		Mario Löhr	SPD	58.7%
Borken		Kai Zwicker	CDU	62.5%
Gütersloh		Ina Laukötter	CDU	59.2%
Lippe		Meinolf Haase	CDU	39.8%	55.6%
Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis		Jan-Christoph Schaberick	SPD	37.6%	55.9%
Kleve	No election
Minden-Lübbecke	No election
Paderborn		Christoph Rüther	CDU	53.8%
Soest		Heinrich Frieling	CDU	48.2%	60.3%
Viersen		Bennet Gielen	CDU	47.0%	59.2%
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis		Arne von Boettischer	CDY	40.8%	56.9%
Warendorf		Olaf Gericke	CDU/FDP	64.6%
Siegen-Wittgenstein		Andreas Müller	SPD	44.2%	62.2%
Oberbergischer Kreis		Klaus Grootens	CDU/FDP	43.2%	61.7%
Düren		Ralf Nolten	CDU	44.4%	59.8%
Hochsauerlandkreis		Thomas Grosche	CDU	63.2%
Heinsberg		Stephan Pusch	CDU	62.6%
Herford		Mirco Schmidt	CDU	43.6%	53.8%
Coesfeld		Christian Schulze Pellengahr	CDU	67.8%
Euskirchen		Markus Ramers	SPD	68.1%
Höxter		Michael Stickeln	CDU	64.5%
Olpe		Theo Melcher	CDU	60.8%

Ruhr Parliament

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)	584,829	28.2	1.1	29	0
	Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)	531,691	25.7	1.5	26	1
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	386,861	18.7	11.6	19	12
	Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE)	232,427	11.2	9.1	11	9
	The Left (LINKE)	120,833	5.8	1.7	6	2
	Action Party for Animal Welfare (TIERSCHUTZ)	45,819	2.2	0.2	0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	44,150	2.1	1.6	0	4
	Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW)	40,792	2.0	New	0	New
	Die PARTEI	27,421	1.3	0.8	0	0
	Volt Germany (Volt)	25,753	1.2	0.7	0	0
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	8,932	0.4	New	0	New
	Voter Initiative NRW (WIN)	6,589	0.3	New	0	New
	Team Todenhöfer	5,518	0.3	New	0	New
	The Homeland (Heimat)	2,938	0.1	New	0	New
	Antifascist, Independent, Progressive (AUF Ruhr)	2,657	0.1	New	0	New
	GUT	1,650	0.1	New	0	New
	Party of Humanists (PdH)	1,595	0.1	New	0.1
Total		1,070,455	100.0		91	0
Blank/invalid votes		25,072	1.2
Registered voters/turnout		3,876,360	54.1	7.0

v t e 2025 elections in Germany
Federal	Federal 21st Bundestag Candidates Defeated MPs Polls Results
State	Hamburg
Local	North Rhine-Westphalia
Previous: 2024 — Next: 2026

v t e Elections in North Rhine-Westphalia
State elections	1947 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2012 2017 2022 2027
Lippe state	1919 1921 1925 1929 1933
Local elections	1946 1948 1952 1956 1961 1964 1969 1975 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2015 2020 2025 2030
Referendums	1950
See also Elections and referendums in Germany Elections in the Free State of Prussia

2025 North Rhine-Westphalia local elections

Events

Results

Results in independent cities

Results in districts

Ruhr Parliament

Opinion polls

Statewide (2025)

References

Related Articles

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Polling Firm	Polling date
2025 election	14 September 2025	33.3	22.1	13.5	3.7	14.5	5.6	1.1	6.2
INSA	21 August 2025	36	23	10	4	15	6	3	3
Forsa	9 July 2025	32	22	14	3	14	6	2	7
2020 election	13 September 2020	34.3	24.3	20	5.6	5	3.8	—	7