| Election Name: | 1983 Hessian state election |
| Country: | Hesse |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1982 Hessian state election |
| Previous Year: | 1982 |
| Next Election: | 1987 Hessian state election |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
| Seats For Election: | All 110 seats in the Landtag of Hesse |
| Majority Seats: | 56 |
| Election Date: | 25 September 1983 |
| Turnout: | 3,404,656 (83.5% 2.8pp) |
| Candidate1: | Holger Börner |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 49 seats, 42.8% |
| Seats1: | 51 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,559,725 |
| Percentage1: | 46.2% |
| Swing1: | 3.4pp |
| Candidate2: | Walter Wallmann |
| Party2: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 52 seats, 45.6% |
| Seats2: | 44 |
| Seat Change2: | 8 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,329,292 |
| Percentage2: | 39.4% |
| Swing2: | 6.2pp |
| Candidate4: | Ekkehard Gries |
| Party4: | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Last Election4: | 0 seats, 3.1% |
| Seats4: | 8 |
| Seat Change4: | 8 |
| Popular Vote4: | 256,801 |
| Percentage4: | 7.6% |
| Swing4: | 4.5pp |
| Candidate5: | Dirk Treber & Gertrud Schilling |
| Party5: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election5: | 9 seats, 8.0% |
| Seats5: | 7 |
| Seat Change5: | 2 |
| Popular Vote5: | 200,415 |
| Percentage5: | 5.9% |
| Swing5: | 2.1pp |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Second Börner cabinet |
| Before Party: | SPD |
| Posttitle: | Government after election |
| After Election: | Third Börner cabinet |
| After Party: | SPD |
The 1983 Hessian state election was held on 25 September 1983 to elect the 11th Landtag of Hesse. The outgoing government was a caretaker cabinet of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Holger Börner. The election was called after the Landtag's failure to elect a government after the 1982 election.
The result was a victory for the SPD, who clearly overtook the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to become the largest party, though still short of a majority. Despite pledging during the campaign not to work with the Greens, Börner negotiated a confidence agreement with the party and was re-elected as Minister-President in June 1984 with their support. This SPD minority government lasted until October 1985, when they formed a coalition with the Greens, the first such coalition in Germany.
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: 1982 Hessian state election. The previous election, held on 26 September 1982, delivered an inconclusive result. Though the CDU and SPD remained first and second, respectively, with only slight losses, the FDP fell to 3% and lost their seats in the Landtag for the first time. At the same time, the new ecologist Green party entered with 8% and held the balance of power. The CDU offered to form a grand coalition, but Minister-President Börner refused and decided to continue his cabinet as a minority government, despite being the second largest party with no supporting partners. When the government's budget was defeated, Börner was forced to call early elections just a year after the last.
The table below lists parties represented in the 10th Landtag of Hesse.
| Name | Ideology | Lead candidate | 1982 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Walter Wallmann | 45.6% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Holger Börner | 42.8% | |||
| bgcolor= | GRÜNE | The Greens | Green politics | Dirk Treber & Gertrud Schilling | 8.0% | |||
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con. | List | Total | +/- | ||||||
| bgcolor= | Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 1,559,725 | 46.23 | 3.41 | 42 | 9 | 51 | 2 | |
| bgcolor= | Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 1,329,292 | 39.40 | 6.22 | 13 | 31 | 44 | 8 | |
| bgcolor= | Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 256,802 | 7.61 | 4.53 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 8 | |
| bgcolor= | The Greens (GRÜNE) | 200,415 | 5.94 | 2.09 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | |
| bgcolor= | Liberal Democrats (LD) | 13,553 | 0.40 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| bgcolor= | German Communist Party (DKP) | 8,697 | 0.26 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| bgcolor= | Democratic Socialists (DS) | 3,221 | 0.10 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| European Labour Party (EAP) | 1,224 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Foreigner Repatriation Action (AAR) | 890 | 0.03 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| bgcolor= | Federation of Socialist Workers (BSA) | 35 | 0.00 | New | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 3,373,853 | 100.00 | 55 | 55 | 110 | 0 | |||
| Invalid | 30,803 | 0.90 | |||||||
| Turnout | 3,404,656 | 83.54 | 2.83 | ||||||
| Registered voters | 4,075,611 | ||||||||