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 Wilhelm “Willi” Stöhr (6 November 1903 – after 1994) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Westmark in the closing months of the war. Early life Born in Wuppertal-Elberfeld the son of a writer, Stöh ...

(

)

Saar protectorate

From 1947 to 1956, Saarland was controlled by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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 Erwin may refer to: People Given name * Erwin Chargaff (1905–2002), Austrian biochemist * Erwin Dold (1919–2012), German concentration camp commandant in World War 2 * Erwin Hauer (1926–2017), Austrian-born American sculptor * Egon Erwin Kisc ...

, Chairman of the Administrative Commission * 1947 - 1955: Johannes Hoffmann, * 1955 - 1956:

Heinrich Welsch Heinrich Welsch (born 13 October 1888 in Saarlouis – died 23 November 1976 in Saarbrücken) was a politician but not a member of a political party. He was Minister President of Saarland in 1955 and 1956. Life and career up to World War II F ...

(ind) * 1956 - 1957: Dr.

Hubert Ney Hubert Ney (12 October 1892 – 3 February 1984) was a German politician ( Zentrum, CVP, CDU) and Minister President of Saarland (1956). He was born and died in Saarlouis. He was related to Michel Ney. Life and career Hubert Ney started st ...

, ( CDU)

German state

Saarland joined the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

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 Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candid ...

, SPD * 1998 - 1999:

Reinhard Klimmt Reinhard Klimmt (born 16 August 1942 in Berlin) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1998 to 1999, he was Minister-President, Minister President of Saarland, and 1999–2000, Feder ...

, SPD * 1999 - 2011: Peter Müller, CDU * 2011 - 2018:

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 ...

, CDU * 2018–present:

Tobias Hans Tobias Hans (born 1 February 1978) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister-President of Saarland from 2018 to 2022. Political career Hans became a member of the Landtag of Saarland after the Saar ...

, 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 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 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) , 147,160 , 30.6 (+6.1) , 17 (+4) , 33.33 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Die Linke , 77,612 , 16.1 (-5.2) , 9 (-2) , 17.65 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" ,

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...

(PIRATEN) , 35,646 , 7.4 (+7.4) , 4 (+4) , 7.84 , - , 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 politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

(Grüne) , 24,248 , 5.0 (-0.9) , 2 (-1) , 3.92 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Family Party (FAMILIE) , 8,393 , 1.7 (-0.3) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 5,871 , 1.2 (-8.0) , 0 (-5) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" ,

National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Party ...

(NDP) , 5,604 , 1.2 (-0.3) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" ,

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

(FREIE WÄHLER) , 4,172 , 0.9 (+0.9) , 0 (0) , 0 , - , bgcolor= , , align="left" ,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazi ...

, 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