2022 Saarland state election

2022 Saarland state election

← 2017 27 March 2022 2027 →

All 51 seats in the Landtag of Saarland
26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout458,223 (61.4% Decrease 8.3pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
2022-03-27 Wahlabend Saarland by Sandro Halank–061.jpg
Tobias Hans-6779.jpg
AfD
Candidate Anke Rehlinger Tobias Hans None[a]
Party SPD CDU AfD
Last election 17 seats, 29.6% 24 seats, 40.7% 3 seats, 6.2%
Seats won 29 19 3
Seat change Increase 12 Decrease 5 Steady 0
Popular vote 196,801 129,154 25,719
Percentage 43.5% 28.5% 5.7%
Swing Increase 13.9pp Decrease 12.2pp Decrease 0.5pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
2022-03-27 Wahlabend Saarland by Sandro Halank–080.jpg
2022-03-27 Wahlabend Saarland by Sandro Halank–038.jpg
2022-03-27 Wahlabend Saarland by Sandro Halank–070.jpg
Candidate Lisa Becker Angelika Hießerich-Peter Barbara Spaniol
Party Greens FDP Left
Last election 0 seats, 4.0% 0 seats, 3.3% 7 seats, 12.8%
Seats won 0 0 0
Seat change Steady Steady Decrease 7
Popular vote 22,598 21,618 11,689
Percentage 4.995% 4.8% 2.6%
Swing Increase 1.0pp Increase 1.5pp Decrease 10.3pp

Results of the election

Government before election

Hans cabinet
CDUSPD

Government after election

Rehlinger cabinet
SPD

The 2022 Saarland state election was held on 27 March 2022 to elect the 17th Landtag of Saarland. The outgoing government was a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Tobias Hans.

The election was won by the SPD in a historic landslide, capturing a majority in the Landtag and winning at least a plurality in all municipalities of Saarland, largely attributed to the personal popularity of longtime Deputy Minister-President Anke Rehlinger. This election was the first time since the 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election that an incumbent Minister-President was defeated for re-election, with the largest margin of defeat since the 2011 Hamburg state election, the first time since the 2013 Bavarian state election that a party received an absolute majority in a Landtag,[1] as well as the first time since 1994 that the SPD did so in the Saarland.

Overall, the SPD won 43.5% of votes to the CDU's 28.5%, a swing of fifteen percentage points between them. The Left lost all their seats after suffering a decline of ten points. The Alternative for Germany became the only minor party in the Landtag with just under 6%, while The Greens fell just 23 votes short of the 5% electoral threshold to win seats. The Free Democratic Party also failed to enter the Landtag with 4.8%. A total of 22.3% of votes did not translate into seats due to the electoral threshold, a record high in any state election.[2]


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  1. ^ "Germany: SPD maintains winning streak in Saarland vote". Deutsche Welle. 27 March 2022.
  2. ^ "A hurdle for democracy". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 28 March 2022.