2012 Saarland state election

2012 Saarland state election

25 March 2012
All 51 seats of the Landtag of the Saarland 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	481,294 (61.6%) 6.0%
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, 21.3% Seats won 19 17 9 Seat change 0 4 2 Popular vote 169,617 147,170 77,612 Percentage 35.2% 30.6% 16.1% Swing 0.7% 6.1% 5.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jasmin Maurer Simone Peter Party Pirates Greens Last election Did not contest 3 seats, 5.9% Seats won 4 2 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 35,656 24,252 Percentage 7.4% 5.0% Swing 7.4% 0.9%
Minister-President before election Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer CDU Elected Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer CDU

The 2012 Saarland state election was held in on 25 March 2012 to elect the members of the Landtag of Saarland. The election was triggered by the collapse of the previous coalition government comprising the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Free Democratic Party (FDP), and The Greens. The CDU subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Kramp-Karrenbauer was re-elected as Minister-President.

Background

After the 2009 state election, a Jamaica coalition (CDU–FDP–Green) government took office, the first of its kind in Germany. The government collapsed on 6 January 2012 due to internal issues in the FDP. Minister-President Kramp-Karrenbauer stated that "[a] credible and reliable cooperation is no longer completely possible in this coalition." The CDU held discussions with the Social Democratic Party in an attempt to form a grand coalition, but this failed, causing early elections to be called.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Saarland.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	2009 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer	34.5%	19 / 51
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Heiko Maas	24.5%	13 / 51
	Linke	The Left Die Linke	Democratic socialism	Oskar Lafontaine	21.3%	11 / 51
	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Oliver Luksic	9.2%	5 / 51
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Simone Peter	5.9%	3 / 51

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	CDU	SPD	Linke	FDP	Grüne	Piraten	Others	Lead
2012 state election	25 Mar 2012	–	35.2	30.6	16.1	1.2	5.0	7.4	4.5	4.6
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	13–15 Mar 2012	1,053	34	34	15	2	5	6	4	Tie
Infratest dimap	13–15 Mar 2012	1,000	33	33	16	3	5	6	4	Tie
Forsa	20–29 Feb 2012	1,002	35	37	14	1	4	5	4	2
Infratest dimap	21–22 Feb 2012	1,001	35	36	15	2	4	5	3	1
Emnid	24–25 Jan 2012	1,000	36	36	15	2	5	4	2	Tie
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	23–25 Jan 2012	1,039	34	38	13	2	6	5	2	4
Infratest dimap	11–15 Nov 2011	1,000	32	35	12	5	8	4	4	3
Infratest dimap	1–3 Nov 2010	1,001	32	34	17	4	9	–	4	2
Infratest dimap	10–13 Dec 2009	1,000	32	29	19	9	7	–	4	3
2009 state election	30 Aug 2009	–	34.5	24.5	21.3	9.2	5.9	–	4.6	10.0

Election result

Summary of the 25 March 2012 election results for the Landtag of Saarland

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	169,617	35.2	0.7	19	0	37.3
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	147,170	30.6	6.1	17	4	33.3
	The Left (Linke)	77,612	16.1	5.2	9	2	17.6
	Pirate Party (Piraten)	35,656	7.4	7.4	4	4	7.8
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	24,252	5.0	0.9	2	1	3.9
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	8,394	1.7	0.3	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	5,871	1.2	8.0	0	5	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	5,606	1.2	0.3	0	±0	0
	Others	7,116	1.5		0	±0	0
Total		481,294	100.0		51	±0
Voter turnout			61.6	6.0

Popular Vote CDU   35.24% SPD   30.58% DIE LINKE   16.13% PIRATEN   7.41% B'90/GRÜNE   5.04% Other   5.61%

Landtag seats CDU   37.25% SPD   33.33% DIE LINKE   17.65% PIRATEN   7.84% B'90/GRÜNE   3.92%

Outcome

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 on 9 May 2012.

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.