1982 Hessian state election

The 1982 Hessian state election was held on 26 September 1982 to elect the 10th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Holger Börner.

The election produced an inconclusive result, with neither the SPD nor the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) achieving a majority. The FDP, who during the campaign voted to end cooperation with the SPD and opt for a coalition with the CDU post-election, fell below the 5% electoral threshold and lost their representation in the Landtag for the first time. Balance of power was held by the new Green party, who won 8%. As neither party was willing to work with the Greens, Holger Börner attempted to continue in office as a minority government; however, his budget was defeated in the Landtag and new elections were called just a year later in 1983.

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 October 1978, the incumbent SPD–FDP coalition retained its majority and was renewed for a third term. The CDU remained the largest party, though there was a small swing from them to the SPD. Two small green parties ran for the first time and finished with about 1% each, becoming the largest non-parliamentary parties in the state. They federated into the new national party The Greens in 1980, which ran for the first time in 1982.

Parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 9th Landtag of Hesse.