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, 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.
Election date The Landtag is elected for five years, with its term commencing when the new Landtag first meets. As the previous election took place on 26 March 2017, the next election was required to take place before April 2022.
Electoral system The 51 members of the Landtag are elected via closed list proportional representation using the d'Hondt method. 41 seats are distributed in three multi-member constituencies, and the remaining ten at the state level. An electoral threshold of 5% of valid votes is applied to the Landtag; parties that fall below this threshold are ineligible to receive seats.
Background
In the previous election held on 26 March 2017, the CDU remained the largest party with 40.7% of votes cast, an increase of 5.5 percentage points. The SPD declined slightly to 29.6%. The Left fell to 12.8%, a decline of 3.3 points. Alternative for Germany (AfD) contested its first election in Saarland, winning 6.2%. The Greens lost their representation in the Landtag with a result of 4.0%.
The CDU had led a grand coalition with the SPD since 2012 under Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, which was renewed after the election. Kramp-Karrenbauer resigned as Minister-President after her, ultimately unsuccessful, entry into federal politics in February 2018, and was succeeded by Tobias Hans as Minister-President in March and as state CDU leader in October 2018.
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. New SPD lead candidate Martin Schulz led the party to a resurgence nationally in early 2017, and polls showed the SPD within striking distance of winning in Saarland. However, the clear CDU victory marked the beginning of a decline on both the federal level and in other states. This resulted in heavy losses for the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia and, ultimately, in the 2017 German federal election. Similarly, the 2022 election was seen as a test both for the ruling Scholz cabinet and new CDU leader Friedrich Merz, and would set the tone for several more state elections throughout the year.
Until July 2021, the CDU had a solid lead in opinion polling. However, following the decline of the CDU on the federal level, the SPD surged ahead, cemented by the personal popularity of longtime Deputy Minister-President Anke Rehlinger.
Parties The table below lists parties represented in the 16th Landtag of Saarland. Name Ideology Leadcandidate 2017 result At dissolution Votes (%) Seats CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Tobias Hans 40.7% SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Anke Rehlinger 29.6% Linke The Left Democratic socialism Barbara Spaniol 12.8% AfD Alternative for Germany Right-wing populism N/A 6.2% Independents
In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, fourteen parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.
Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE) Free Democratic Party (FDP) Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE) Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN) Free Voters (FREIE WÄHLER) Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany (dieBasis) Bunt.saar – social-ecological list (Bunt.saar) Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) The Humanists (Die Humanisten) Die PARTEI (DIE PARTEI) Party for Health Research (Gesundheitsforschung) Human Environment Animal Protection Party (Tierschutzpartei) SGV – Solidarity, Justice, Change (SGV) Volt Germany (Volt)
Lead candidates The Left Since at least 2017, the Saarland branch of The Left was embroiled into a dispute between Thomas Lutze, state treasurer from 2013 to 2017 and chairman since 2019, and Oskar Lafontaine, parliamentary leader since 2009. Lutze was accused of manipulating internal party elections by forging documents and fraudulently paying membership dues. Public audits from 2017 to 2020 and a federal review in 2021 provided no evidence of irregularities. The Saarbrücken public prosecutor's office began an investigation into Lutze in March 2021, but the case was dropped in January 2022.
In May 2021, the state executive requested that Lafontaine and former state chairwoman Astrid Schramm resign from the party, accusing them of being "the driving force behind the internal mudslinging that has been going on for years at the party's expense". They refused. After the federal election in September, Lafontaine announced that he would not seek re-election to the Landtag in the upcoming state election.
On 2 November 2021, deputy state chairwoman Barbara Spaniol was expelled from the Left parliamentary faction, accused of "supporting the public attacks by the state chairman against the Left faction". On 10 November, she founded the Saar-Linke parliamentary group with Dagmar Ensch-Engel, who had previously resigned from the Left faction in 2018 after facing pressure from the Lafontaine camp. On 21 November, Spaniol was elected as The Left's lead candidate for the state election, winning 85.1% support.
AfD In January 2022, the Alternative for Germany's state list was withdrawn by the party trustees shortly before the deadline for candidate submissions passed. Two members of the party's state executive had arbitrarily switched out the trustees, who then withdrew the list. State chairman Christian Wirth alleged that the four members involved did not support the proposed lead candidate Kai Melling. The party still competed in all three regional constituencies, which together provided 41 of the 51 members of the Landtag. However, due to the lack of a state list, the AfD was without a lead candidate.
Greens At the Alliance 90/The Greens state congress on 7 January 2022, Lisa Becker was elected as lead candidate for the state election. She was one of three candidates alongside state chairwoman Uta Sullenberger and Kiymet Goektas; the former withdrew before the ballot and Becker defeated Goektas with 110 votes to 80.
FDP Angelika Hießerich-Peter was elected as the FDP's lead candidate for the election, winning 79% of votes at a party congress.
Opinion polling Graphical summary
Party polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize CDU SPD Linke AfD Grüne FDP FW bunt.saar Others Lead 2022 state election 27 Mar 2022 – 28.5 43.5 2.6 5.7 5.0 4.8 1.7 1.4 6.8 15.0 Wahlkreisprognose 21–25 Mar 2022 940 28 41 4 6.5 5 5.5 – – 10 13 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 21–24 Mar 2022 2,375 28 41 4 6.5 5.5 5 – – 10 13 Wahlkreisprognose 15–18 Mar 2022 978 30 38 3.5 6 5 5.5 – – 12 8 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 15–17 Mar 2022 1,024 30 39 4 6 6 5 – – 10 9 INSA 14–17 Mar 2022 1,000 31 39 4 6 5 5 – – 10 8 Infratest dimap 14–16 Mar 2022 1,421 31 37 4 6 5 5 – 3 9 6 Wahlkreisprognose 3–8 Mar 2022 1,219 30 35.5 5.5 8.5 7 6.5 1 – 6 5.5 Infratest dimap 8–12 Feb 2022 1,175 29 38 5 8 6 6 – – 8 9 Wahlkreisprognose 1–7 Feb 2022 1,504 33 34 5 7 6.5 6.5 4 – 4 1 INSA 17–24 Jan 2022 1,002 30 35 7 7 8 6 – – 7 5 Wahlkreisprognose 15–24 Dec 2021 1,004 33.5 38 4 7 6 6 3 – 2.5 4.5 Infratest dimap 16–20 Nov 2021 1,165 28 33 6 9 8 8 – – 8 5 Wahlkreisprognose 2–11 Nov 2021 – 29 38 4.5 8 5 9 3 – 3.5 9 2021 federal election 26 Sep 2021 – 23.6 37.3 7.2 10.0 – 11.5 2.0 – 8.5 13.7 Wahlkreisprognose 14–22 Jul 2021 – 37 29 8 6 7.5 5 – – 7.5 8 INSA 5–19 Jul 2021 1,048 36 27 7 6 9 7 – – 8 9 Wahlkreisprognose 18–25 May 2021 – 24.5 21 11 9.5 17.5 7 5 – 4.5 3.5 INSA 3–10 May 2021 1,052 31 21 14 6 15 7 – – 6 10 Infratest dimap 2–7 Nov 2020 1,000 40 22 11 8 12 3 – – 4 18 Wahlkreisprognose 22–29 Jun 2020 – 45 33 5.5 4 6 3.5 – – 5 12 Wahlkreisprognose 10–22 Apr 2020 – 40.5 32.5 7 7 5 4.5 – – 3.5 8 INSA 19 Nov–2 Dec 2019 1,000 36 24 11 7 15 4 – – 3 12 2019 EP election 26 May 2019 – 32.5 23.1 6.0 9.6 13.2 3.7 1.1 – 12.0 9.6 Infratest dimap 29 Apr–6 May 2019 1,000 37 25 12 8 11 4 – – 3 12 Infratest dimap 14–19 Jun 2018 1,000 35 26 12 15 6 4 – – 2 9 2017 federal election 24 Sep 2017 – 32.4 27.1 12.9 10.1 6.0 7.6 0.8 – 3.0 5.3 2017 state election 26 Mar 2017 – 40.7 29.6 12.8 6.2 4.0 3.3 0.4 – 3.0 11.1
Minister-President polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize None/Unsure Lead CDU SPD Wahlkreisprognose 21–25 Mar 2022 940 33 59 8 26 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 21–24 Mar 2022 2,375 30 57 13 27 Wahlkreisprognose 15–18 Mar 2022 978 31 55 14 24 Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 15–17 Mar 2022 1,024 31 52 17 21 Infratest dimap 14–16 Mar 2022 1,421 33 49 18 16 Wahlkreisprognose 3–8 Mar 2022 1,219 35.5 49.5 15 14 Wahlkreisprognose 1–7 Feb 2022 1,504 43 46 11 3 Wahlkreisprognose 15–24 Dec 2021 1,004 42 44 14 2 Infratest dimap 16–20 Nov 2021 1,165 39 42 19 3 Infratest dimap 2–11 Nov 2020 1,000 52 32 16 20 Infratest dimap 8 May 2019 1,000 39 37 24 2
Party competences Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize Category CDU SPD Linke AfD Grüne FDP Others/None Lead Infratest dimap 16–20 Nov 2021 1,165 Economy 27 33 3 5 2 8 18 6 Education 26 32 4 4 3 6 21 6 Jobs 24 38 3 5 2 7 18 14 Asylum 24 26 4 9 6 3 23 2 Health Care 24 34 4 5 4 4 21 10 Transport 22 31 3 3 8 6 23 9 Social justice 15 42 11 5 3 3 18 27 Environment 12 21 3 4 34 4 18 13 Solving Biggest Problems 24 35 3 5 3 4 20 11 Infratest dimap 2–11 Nov 2020 1,000 Corona 55 14 2 2 2 0 22 41 Homeland security 49 13 5 8 2 1 20 36 Economy 48 23 5 1 3 5 14 25 Finances 44 15 7 2 2 2 26 29 Jobs 40 29 8 2 2 4 13 11 Health Care 40 27 6 1 3 1 19 13 Education 34 26 8 1 5 3 20 8 Integration 30 23 6 3 10 2 22 7 Family 25 37 8 2 8 0 16 12 Public transport 20 25 6 0 22 1 22 3 Social justice 19 35 21 3 5 1 14 14 Environment 13 11 3 1 57 1 12 44 Solving Biggest Problems 41 19 8 3 5 2 19 22
Results