Scholz’s Social Democrats win big in Saarland election

 

Scholz’s Social Democrats win big in Saarland election

 

Party of German chancellor set for majority in small western German state, ousting center-right Christian Democrats from power.

 

BY HANS VON DER BURCHARD

March 27, 2022 7:29 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/scholz-social-democrats-win-big-in-saarland-election/

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats achieved a major victory in the small western German state of Saarland on Sunday, putting the party on top in the first of four regional elections taking place this year.

 

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) got 43.5 percent of the votes, according to the preliminary results. That puts Scholz’s party way ahead of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) of current state premier Tobias Hans, trailing on just 28.5 percent.

 

It means the SPD’s lead candidate, Anke Rehlinger, will oust Hans, who had previously governed with the SPD as a junior partner. The strong result will allow Rehlinger to rule Saarland without any coalition partner.

 

Significantly, two other parties — the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which are coalition partners in Scholz’s government at federal level — missed the 5 percent hurdle needed for entry to the Saarland state parliament, according to the preliminary results. The Greens missed that hurdle very narrowly with 4.99 percent — lacking just 23 votes need to cross the 5 percent threshold — while the FDP got 4.8 percent. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered the parliament with 5.7 percent.

 

Since the results are still preliminary, there could still be changes to the vote count.

 

Although Saarland is Germany’s second-smallest federal state in terms of population, with just below 1 million inhabitants, the vote is likely to bolster the power of Scholz, who was elected chancellor at the end of last year following a surprise victory in the September federal elections. Those elections saw the SPD oust the CDU of former chancellor Angela Merkel, who did not run for re-election, after 16 years in office.

 

The SPD’s Secretary General Kevin Kühnert spoke of a “landslide victory” in the wake of the vote, arguing it would also have an effect on nationwide politics. “This gives an insane tailwind,” he told ZDF.

 

Germany faces three even more important state elections this year: in Schleswig-Holstein on May 8; in North Rhine-Westphalia, the biggest state in terms of population, on May 15; and in Lower Saxony on October 9.

 

This story has been updated.