The 2012 Saarland state election was held in on 25 March 2012 to elect the members of the

Landtag of Saarland The Landtag of the Saarland is the state 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 party in the Lan ...

. The election was triggered by the collapse of the previous

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

comprising the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by

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 ...

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 Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from ...

, Free Democratic Party (FDP), and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

. The CDU subsequently formed a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

with the

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 For ...

(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 " credible and reliable cooperation is no longer completely possible in this coalition." The CDU held discussions with the

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.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - , colspan=8, 2012 Saarland state election - composition chart

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 169,617 , align= 35.2 , align= 0.7 , align= 19 , align= 0 , align= 37.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 147,170 , align= 30.6 , align= 6.1 , align= 17 , align= 4 , align= 33.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , The Left (Linke) , align= 77,612 , align= 16.1 , align= 5.2 , align= 9 , align= 2 , align= 17.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties around the world. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively participation in government, reform of copyright and patent law, free shari ...

(Piraten) , align= 35,656 , align= 7.4 , align= 7.4 , align= 4 , align= 4 , align= 7.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

(Grüne) , align= 24,252 , align= 5.0 , align= 0.9 , align= 2 , align= 1 , align= 3.9 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Family Party of Germany The Family Party of Germany (german: Familienpartei Deutschlands) is a minor conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It has elected members to several local councils in the state of Saarland. ...

(FAMILIE) , align= 8,394 , align= 1.7 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 5,871 , align= 1.2 , align= 8.0 , align= 0 , align= 5 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , National Democratic Party (NPD) , align= 5,606 , align= 1.2 , align= 0.3 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 7,116 , align= 1.5 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 481,294 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 51 ! align= ±0 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 61.6 ! align= 6.0 ! align= ! align= ! align=

Outcome

Having been reelected as the largest party in the Landtag, CDU was tasked with forming the government. Minister-President

said that she was seeking to form a

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 A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

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.

References

{{2012 elections in Germany

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, a ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...