Rhineland-Palatinate
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded shortly after the Second World War on 30 August 1946. It was formed mainly from the southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province (the "Regierungsbezirke" of Koblenz and Trier), from Rhenish Hesse, from the western part of Nassau and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate minus the county of Saarpfalz. The Joint German-Luxembourg Sovereign Region ("Gemeinschaftliches deutsch-luxemburgisches Hoheitsgebiet") is the only unincorporated area of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This condominium is formed by the rivers Moselle, Sauer, and Our, where they run along the border between Luxembourg and Rhineland-Palatinate or the Saarland.
Politics of Rhineland-Palatinate
Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag. This regional parliament or legislature then elects the Minister-President and confirms the cabinet members. Rhineland-Palatinate is the only German Bundesland to have a cabinet minister for winegrowing ("ministry of economy, traffic, agriculture and winegrowing")In the election, the SPD suffered large loss, falling by 10% of the vote and winning only one seat more than the Christian Democratic Union. The main winners were Alliance '90/The Greens, who surged to over 15% of the vote, having failed to even break through the 5% threshold in 2006. In 2011, however, the Free Democratic Party failed to break through 5%, and thus lost the 10 seats they'd won in 2006.
Summary of the 27 March 2011 election results for the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate
! colspan="2" | Party
! colspan="2" | Vote % (change)
! colspan="2" | Seats (change)
! | Seat %