The politics of Saarland takes place within a framework of a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

representative democratic republic, where the

Federal Government of Germany The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the rightist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Saarland

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

. This regional

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

then elects the

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

and confirms the cabinet members.

League of Nations

The "''Territory of the Saar Basin''" was governed by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

under the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

from 1920 until 1935. The Chairmen of the Commission of Government were: * 1920 - 1926: Victor Rault (France) * 1926 - 1927 George Washington Stevens (Canada) * 1927 - 1932 Sir Ernest Colville Collins Wilton (UK) * 1932 - 1935 Sir Geoffrey George Knox (UK)

Nazi Germany

Saarland voted to rejoin Germany in 1935. The German-appointed

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

were: * 1935 - 1944: Josef Bürckel (

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

) * 1944 - 1945: Willi Stöhr (

)

Saar protectorate

From 1947 to 1956, Saarland was controlled by France as a protectorate. Elections were held but pro-German parties were banned. Minister-Presidents in this time were: * 1945 - 1946: Hans Neureuther, Leader of the Government under French administration * 1946 - 1947: Erwin Müller, Chairman of the Administrative Commission * 1947 - 1955: Johannes Hoffmann (CVP), Johannes Hoffmann, * 1955 - 1956: Heinrich Welsch (ind) * 1956 - 1957: Dr. Hubert Ney, (Christian Democratic Union (Germany), CDU)

German state

Saarland joined the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany in 1957. Since then, its Minister-Presidents have been: * 1957 - 1959: Egon Reinert, CDU * 1959 - 1979: Dr. Franz Josef Röder, CDU * 1979 (26 June - 5 July): Werner Klumpp, FDP, interim * 1979 - 1985: Werner Zeyer, CDU * 1985 - 1998: Oskar Lafontaine, SPD * 1998 - 1999: Reinhard Klimmt, SPD * 1999 - 2011: Peter Müller (politician), Peter Müller, CDU * 2011 - 2018: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, CDU * 2018–present: Tobias Hans, CDU The election results have been:

Election 2012

An election in Saarland was held in March 2012 following the collapse of the experimental Jamaica coalition (politics), Jamaica coalition of the CDU, FDP and Greens. A CDU/SPD grand coalition was formed in its aftermath. , - bgcolor=#E9E9E9 ! colspan="2" align="left" , Party ! Party list votes ! Vote % (change) ! Seats (change) ! Seat % , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 169,594 , 35.2 (+0.7) , 19 (0) , 37.25 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , 147,160 , 30.6 (+6.1) , 17 (+4) , 33.33 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , The Left (Germany), Die Linke , 77,612 , 16.1 (-5.2) , 9 (-2) , 17.65 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN) , 35,646 , 7.4 (+7.4) , 4 (+4) , 7.84 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Alliance '90/The Greens (Grüne) , 24,248 , 5.0 (-0.9) , 2 (-1) , 3.92 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Family Party of Germany, Family Party (FAMILIE) , 8,393 , 1.7 (-0.3) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Free Democratic Party (Germany), Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 5,871 , 1.2 (-8.0) , 0 (-5) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) , 5,604 , 1.2 (-0.3) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Free Voters (FREIE WÄHLER) , 4,172 , 0.9 (+0.9) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Die PARTEI , 2,229 , 0.5 (+0.5) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Initiative Direct Democracy (Direkte Demokratie) , 720 , 0.1 (+0.1) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , - bgcolor=#E9E9E9 ! colspan="2" align="left" , Totals ! 481,249 ! 100 ! 51 ! 100

Election 2017

References

{{Politics of Germany by state Politics of Saarland,