1974 Hessian state election

The 1974 Hessian state election was held on 27 October 1974 to elect the 8th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Albert Osswald.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) achieved a significant victory by becoming the largest party in Hesse for the first time. The state had long been considered a stronghold of the SPD. Despite this, the SPD and FDP retained a narrow majority between them and renewed their coalition for a second term.

Electoral system
The Landtag was elected via mixed-member proportional representation. 55 members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, and 55 then allocated using compensatory proportional representation. A single ballot was used for both. 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 8 November 1970, the CDU achieved a major swing and increased its vote share to just under 40%, offering a serious challenge to the SPD for the first time in decades. Though remaining the largest party with 46%, the SPD were deprived of their majority and formed a coalition government with the FDP.

Parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 7th Landtag of Hesse.