| Election Name: | 1982 Hessian state election |
| Country: | Hesse |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1978 Hessian state election |
| Previous Year: | 1978 |
| Next Election: | 1983 Hessian state election |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
| Seats For Election: | All 110 seats in the Landtag of Hesse |
| Majority Seats: | 56 |
| Election Date: | 26 September 1982 |
| Turnout: | 3,498,407 (86.4% 1.3pp) |
| Candidate1: | Alfred Dregger |
| Party1: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 53 seats, 46.0% |
| Seats1: | 52 |
| Seat Change1: | 1 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,580,989 |
| Percentage1: | 45.6% |
| Swing1: | 0.4pp |
| Candidate2: | Holger Börner |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 50 seats, 44.3% |
| Seats2: | 49 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,483,930 |
| Percentage2: | 42.8% |
| Swing2: | 1.5pp |
| Candidate4: | Dirk Treber & Gertrud Schilling |
| Party4: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election4: | 0 seats, 2.0% |
| Seats4: | 9 |
| Seat Change4: | 9 |
| Popular Vote4: | 278,450 |
| Percentage4: | 8.0% |
| Swing4: | 6.0pp |
| Candidate5: | Ekkehard Gries |
| Party5: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election5: | 7 seats, 6.6% |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 7 |
| Popular Vote5: | 106,901 |
| Percentage5: | 4.1% |
| Swing5: | 3.5pp |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Second Börner cabinet |
| Before Party: | SPD–FDP |
| Posttitle: | Government after election |
| After Election: | Second Börner cabinet |
| After Party: | SPD |
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.
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.
See main article: 1978 Hessian state election. 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.
The table below lists parties represented in the 9th Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1978 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Alfred Dregger | 46.0% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Holger Börner | 44.2% | |||
| bgcolor= | FDP | Free Democratic Party | Classical liberalism | Ekkehard Gries | 6.6% | |||