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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