In addition to the passage of laws, its most important tasks are the election of the Minister-President of the state and the administration of the government.

The current government is a coalition of the CDU and the Greens, supporting the cabinet of Minister-President Hendrik Wüst since June 2022.

Additionally, the state government itself can bring relevant bill proposals to parliament for consideration.

The specific parliamentary committees will then pass the reformulated bill with recommended decisions back to the parliament at large for a second reading.

Bills are enacted by majority vote, as the constitution does not require any more stringent criteria for passage.

The parliament operates by a quorum decision-making process, meaning that only half of its legal members must be present.

For any proposed legislature, a third reading, deliberation, or committee counseling can be requested either by a party or by at least a quarter of the assembly.

The president of the parliament delivers each ratified law to the Minister-President, who signs and disseminates it as part of her duties as head of state for North Rhine-Westphalia.

A plebiscite can also be enacted at the request of the government, if parliament fails to pass one of their proposed bills.

In practice, this form of direct democracy does not play a large role in the legislative process.

The European Union likewise has a strong influence on the passage of laws at the national level.

The removal of the Minister-President is possible at any time through a motion of no confidence, which requires a majority of dissenting votes.

As of 2013, there have been two successful votes of no confidence on the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (the first on 20 February 1956 and the second on 8 December 1966).

Parliament has no direct influence on the appointment or dismissal of other state ministers, who (together with the Minister-President) make up the government.

Parliament elects four members of the Constitutional Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Verfassungsgerichtshof für das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen) to terms of six years each.

The long term of office, which is staggered so that each judge will not face reelection at the same time, ensures that parliament cannot place undue pressure on the court through election manipulation.

Based on population statistics, North Rhine-Westphalia is responsible for about a fifth of the members of the Federal Convention.

In general, members of the state parliament are career politicians and sit together according to what party they belong to.

In general, the president of the parliament comes from the largest constituent political party in the government.

Those who wish to stand for office must be a registered resident of North Rhine-Westphalia for at least three months prior to the election.

Nominations for the election in each electoral district can come from parties, vote groups, and individual voters.

Through this rule, the leadership of the CDU successfully opposed a candidate in one of the electoral districts of Cologne during the parliamentary elections of 2005.

Of course, this scheme for adding seats can lead to an expansion of parliament to a size larger than is necessary to produce proportional representation.

In the case of a direct mandate, a new election takes place in which the individual who lost his seat is not eligible to run.

These votes then were also counted for the list of the candidate's political party and were used to divide the seats not apportioned to particular electoral districts.

The following table details the results: The first parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia was actually appointed during the British occupation following WWII, and was not replaced by a democratically elected body until 1947.

The 2005 state parliament elections led for the first time in decades their return to power over the SPD, who nevertheless maintained their domination in the Ruhr.

The CDU suffered heavy losses in the elections of 2010, but remained a strong force in parliament.

The Greens have the highest percentage of women in parliament, at 51.7%, which is well above the SPD, which is 33.3% female, the CDU, at 22.4%, and the FDP, at 18.2%.

Additionally, the election of Hannelore Kraft marks the first time ever that a woman has headed the state government.