The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Hannelore Kraft was defeated.

CDU leader Armin Laschet was subsequently elected Minister-President.

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The governing SPD and Greens suffered a 13-point swing between them, the latter losing half their seats.

The Left doubled their vote share to 4.9%, but fell just short of the threshold.