Saarland state election, 2012

Saarland state election, 2012
Saarland
25 March 2012

All 51 seats of the Landtag of the Saarland
26 seats needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Heiko Maas Oskar Lafontaine
Party CDU SPD Left
Last election 19 seats, 34.5% 13 seats, 24.5% 11 seats, 21.5%
Seats before 19 13 11
Seats won 19 17 9
Seat change Steady Increase4 Decrease2
Popular vote 169,594 147,160 77,612
Percentage 35.2% 30.6% 16.1%
Swing Increase0.7% Increase6.1% Decrease5.4%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jasmin Maurer Simone Peter Roland Körner
Party Pirates Green Family
Last election Did not contest 3 seats, 5.9% 0 seats, 2.0%
Seats before 0 3 0
Seats won 4 2 0
Seat change Increase4 Decrease1 Steady
Popular vote 35,646 24,248 8,393
Percentage 7.4% 5.0% 1.7%
Swing Increase7.4% Decrease 0.9% Decrease 0.3%

  Seventh party
 
Leader Oliver Luksic
Party FDP
Last election 5 seats, 9.2%
Seats before 5
Seats won 0
Seat change Decrease5
Popular vote 5,871
Percentage 1.2%
Swing Decrease8.0%


Minister-President before election

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
CDU

Minister-President designate

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
CDU

The Saarland state elections, 2012 were held in Saarland on 25 March 2012. The CDU, led by incumbent Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, received a plurality of the vote and formed a grand coalition with the SPD.[1] On 9 May, Kramp-Karrenbauer was re-elected as Minister-President.[2]

Background

The Jamaica Coalition, led by the CDU, collapsed on 6 January 2012.[3] The decision was based on internal problems within the Free Democratic Party.[3] Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Minister-President of Saarland and chairwoman of the Saarland Christian Democratic Union, stated that "[a] credible and reliable cooperation is no longer completely possible in this coalition."[3] The CDU went into coalition talks with the Social Democratic Party that ultimately failed, which prompted the snap election.[4]

Polling

The following opinion polls were conducted during the campaign:

Pollster Date CDU SPD The Left Greens FDP Pirates Other
Forsa[5] 9 March 2012 35% 37% 14% 4% 1% 5% 4%
Infratest Dimap 23 Feb 2012 35% 36% 15% 4% 2% 5% 3%
Emnid[6] 27 Jan 2012 36% 36% 15% 5% 2% 4% 2%
FGW[7] 26 Jan 2012 34% 38% 13% 5% 2% 5% 2%

Results

25 March 2012 election results for the Landtag of Saarland

Party Party list votes Vote % (change) Seats (change) Seat %
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 169,594 35.2 (+0.7) 19 (0) 37.25
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 147,160 30.6 (+6.1) 17 (+4) 33.33
Die Linke 77,612 16.1 (-5.2) 9 (-2) 17.65
Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN) 35,646 7.4 (+7.4) 4 (+4) 7.84
Alliance '90/The Greens (Grüne) 24,248 5.0 (-0.9) 2 (-1) 3.92
Family Party (FAMILIE) 8,393 1.7 (-0.3) 0 (0) 0
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 5,871 1.2 (-8.0) 0 (-5) 0
National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) 5,604 1.2 (-0.3) 0 (0) 0
Free Voters (FREIE WÄHLER) 4,172 0.9 (+0.9) 0 (0) 0
Die PARTEI 2,229 0.5 (+0.5) 0 (0) 0
Initiative Direct Democracy (Direkte Demokratie) 720 0.1 (+0.1) 0 (0) 0
Totals 481,249 100 51 100

Aftermath

Having been reelected as the largest party in the Landtag, CDU was tasked with forming the government. Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she was seeking to form a grand coalition with the SPD, which have 37 seats altogether. Both parties reached a coalition agreement on 24 April 2012. The CDU and SPD would control 3 ministries each. Kramp-Karrenbauer will also head the new government which will be sworn in 9 May 2012.[8]

On 9 May 2012 Kramp-Karrenbauer's new government gained the vote of confidence with 37 votes. There was 12 votes against and 2 abstentions. Her cabinet was later endorsed by the Landtag with the same number of votes.[9]

References

  1. "CDU gewinnt Landtagswahl". tagesschau. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. "Große Koalition im Saarland: Kramp-Karrenbauer als Ministerpräsidentin wiedergewählt". Focus (in German). 9 May 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Zuvela, Matt (6 January 2012). "One-of-a-kind coalition falls apart in German state". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  4. Charlotte Chelsom-Pill; Richard Connor (20 January 2012). "Early Saarland elections planned as coalition talks fail". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  5. "Forsa Poll". Spiegel Online (in German). 14 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  6. "Umfragen Saarland" (in German). wahlrecht.de. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  7. "Saarland steht vor Neuwahlen". ZDF. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  8. "Strategiespiel ums Kabinett". SZ Online. 24 April 2012.
  9. "Kramp-Karrenbauer als Ministerpräsidentin wiedergewählt". Süddeutsche. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
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