The 2017 Saarland state election was held on 26 March 2017 to elect the members of the

Landtag of Saarland The Landtag of Saarland is the state diet (assembly), diet of the German federal state of Saarland. It convenes in Saarbrücken and currently consists of 51 members of five parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is the largest part ...

. The incumbent

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) led by Minister-President

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of th ...

was returned with an increased majority.Die „rote Charlotte“ hält sich bereit
Frankfurter Allgemeine (German), 29 May 2015 Even though the Saarland is the second smallest state by population and does not represent Germany as a whole demographically, the election proved to be of pivotal importance to the following state elections and in particular the federal election later that year. Then-SPD leader

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progress ...

led the party to new heights in early 2017 and polls showed the SPD capturing the Minister-President's office in this first election of the year, but the upset CDU victory marked the beginning of a decline in the polls both nationally and in other state elections. This decline culminated in heavy losses for the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia and, ultimately, in the

2017 German federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...

Background

The 2012 state election was called after the collapse of the Jamaica coalition of the CDU, Free Democratic Party (FDP) and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

. The election saw the collapse of the FDP, a downswing for The Left and Greens, gains for the SPD, and the entry of the

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. Afterwards, the CDU and SPD formed a grand coalition.

Parties

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

Opinion polling

Party polling

Minister-President polling

Election result

, - , colspan=8, SL Landtagswahl 2017

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 217,263 , align= 40.7 , align= 5.5 , align= 24 , align= 5 , align= 47.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 158,057 , align= 29.6 , align= 1.0 , align= 17 , align= 0 , align= 33.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Left (Linke) , align= 68,566 , align= 12.8 , align= 3.3 , align= 7 , align= 2 , align= 13.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) , align= 32,971 , align= 6.2 , align= New , align= 3 , align= New , align= 5.9 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

(Grüne) , align= 21,392 , align= 4.0 , align= 1.0 , align= 0 , align= 2 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 17,419 , align= 3.3 , align= 2.1 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Family Party of Germany The Family Party of Germany () is a minor conservative political party in Germany. It has elected members to several local councils in the state of Saarland. The party wants to introduce a right to vote for children carried out by the legal guard ...

(FAMILIE) , align= 4,435 , align= 0.8 , align= 0.9 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by various Political party, political parties worldwide that share a set of values and policies focused on Civil and political rights, civil rights in the digital age. The fundamental principles of Pirate Partie ...

(Piraten) , align= 3,979 , align= 0.7 , align= 6.7 , align= 0 , align= 4 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , National Democratic Party (NPD) , align= 3,744 , align= 0.7 , align= 0.5 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 5,957 , align= 1.1 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 533,783 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 51 ! align= ±0 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 69.7 ! align= 8.1 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Outcome

Observers were surprised by the CDU's strong performance, as opinion polls predicted a close contest between the CDU and SPD. After the election, several commentators described the results as a boost for the September 2017 electoral prospects of German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

and the CDU, and as a setback for SPD leader

. As both the CDU and SPD refused to coalition with AfD, the CDU and SPD coalition reached an agreement to continue governing together after the election.

References

{{2017 elections in Germany Saarland state election Elections in Saarland Saarland state election