Saarland state election, 2017

Saarland state election, 2017

March 26, 2017

All 51 seats of the Landtag of the Saarland 26 seats needed for a majority   Leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Anke Rehlinger Oskar Lafontaine Party CDU SPD Left Leader since 28 May 2011[1] 18 June 2016 9 August 2008 Last election 19 seats, 35.2% 17 seats, 30.6% 9 seats, 16.1% Current seats 19 18 8 Seats needed 7 8 18   Leader TBD Hubert Ulrich Party Pirates Green Leader since TBD 16 May 2012 Last election 4 seats, 7.4% 2 seats, 5.0% Current seats 3 3 Seats needed 23 23

Incumbent Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer CDU

The next Saarland state elections is scheduled to be hold on March 26, 2017.^[2][3] At stake will be the 51 seats in the Landtag of Saarland. The incumbent Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, currently leading a Grand coalition^[4] of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), will seek re-election after serving two terms as Minister-President.^[5]

Background

The Saarland state election, 2012 was a snap election called due to the collaps of the Jamaica coalition of CDU, Free Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party on 6 January 2012. The result of the election was a victory for the governing Christian Democrats, while the FDP suffered enormous losses. The party thus failed to achieve parliamentary representation. The Greens lost voters, but obtained seats by getting enough votes to reach the 5 percent threshold. The oppositional Social Democrats led by Heiko Maas increased their number of seats and votes, but failed to become the largest party in parliament. The Left Party suffered moderate losses. The Pirate Party secured parliamentary representation for the first time in a Western German regional parliament.^[6]

Parties and Candidates

Party		Ideology	Leader(s)	Result in 2012
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	Christian democracy, Liberal conservatism	Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer	35.2 % (19 seats)
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	Social democracy	Anke Rehlinger	30.6 % (17 seats)
	The Left	Democratic socialism, Left-wing populism	Oskar Lafontaine	16.1 % (9 seats)
	Pirate Party	Pirate Party, Social liberalism	TBD	7.4 % (4 seats)
	Alliance '90/The Greens	Green politics, Ecologism, Social Liberalism	Hubert Ulrich, Barbara-Meyer Gluche	5.0 % (2 seats)
	Family Party	Conservatism	Roland Körner	1.7 % (0 seats)
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	Liberalism, Classical liberalism	Oliver Luksic	1.2 % (0 seats)
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	Right-wing populism, Euroscepticism	Rudolf Müller	—

Opinion Polls

Voting Intention

Date	Polling Firm/Source									Others	Lead
15 November 2016	Forsa	37.0	26.0	15.0	–	6.0	–	3.0	9.0	4.0	11.0
11 May 2016	Infratest dimap	34.0	29.0	12.0	–	7.0	–	4.0	11.0	3.0	5.0
31 March 2015	Infratest dimap	40.0	33.0	10.0	1.0	6.0	–	2.0	4.0	4.0	7.0
25 May 2014	EU Parliament election	34.9	34.4	6.6	1.7	6.0	1.5	2.2	6.8	5.9	0.5
14 May 2014	Infratest dimap	37.0	34.0	13.0	2.0	5.0	–	–	5.0	4.0	3.0
22 Sep 2013	Federal Election	37.8	31.0	10.0	2.6	5.7	1.2	3.8	5.2	3.9	5.6
7 May 2013	Infratest dimap	39.0	36.0	10.0	2.0	6.0	–	2.0	3.0	2.0	3.0
25 Mar 2012	2012 election	35.2	30.6	16.1	7.4	5.0	1.7	1.2	–	4.4	2.9

Preferred Minister-President

Date	Polling Firm/Source	AKK	AR	HM	None
11 May 2016	Infratest dimap	59.0	26.0	–	10.0
31 March 2015	Infratest dimap	62.0	18.0	–	9.0
14 May 2014	Infratest dimap	53.0	–	35.0	6.0
7 May 2013	Infratest dimap	53.0	–	36.0	7.0

References

1. The party leader: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, cdu-saar.de (German)
2. Election dates in Germany, wahlrecht.de (German)
3. Vor dem Wahlkampf: Elefantenrunde ohne Berührungsängste, Saarbrücker Zeitung (German), 13 Feb 2016
4. Kramp-Karrenbauer für Fortsetzung der großen Koalition im Saarland, focus.de (German), 2 Oct 2014
5. Die „rote Charlotte“ hält sich bereit, Frankfurter Allgemeine (German), 29 May 2015
6. Merkel's party wins German state election, AlJazeera (English), 25 Mar 2012