CDU and the Saar debacle: Forget as quickly as possible

A botched election campaign and a lack of backing from Berlin: The CDU wrote off the elections in Saarland early on and is now relying on two more hopeful state politicians.

It was seldom so quiet in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus on an election night, not even on the bad days. It was just empty. The party leader Friedrich Merz stayed in his homeland – no interviews for the Saarland election.

Not even a handful of members from the presidium and federal board were present. Only two wanted or should declare a defeat with announcement today, the new general secretary Mario Czaja and the new deputy federal chairman Andreas Jung. No matter how big or small, how important or less important the Saarland may be from the point of view of the federal CDU that evening.

This election debacle is inconvenient for the newly elected CDU leader. Merz had recently not even traveled to Saarland to campaign for the prime minister again with verve. Internally, there was displeasure with the Saar-CDU election campaign. There was talk of mobilization difficulties.

Frustrated campaigners in western Germany

In the Adenauer House, distance was quickly sought, more so than seldom before a state election. The culprit was publicly known before he could even lose. It almost sounds like mockery when today Czaja and Jung repeat the sentence like a prayer wheel: “We win together and we lose together.”

Weeks earlier, the gap to the CDU in Saarland was getting bigger and bigger. Also because the election campaign strategies did not want to fit together. The incumbent Prime Minister did not make it easy for his own people in the Adenauer House. The election campaign in Saarland lacked the bite. There were also manual errors. The selfie about the fuel prices did not make Tobias Hans look good.

Symbol of a botched election campaign

A lot of this electoral defeat is homemade in the Saar-CDU. But the federal CDU has not particularly tried to get the “black sheep” lately. It was already clear at the national board meeting in Saarbrücken that things weren’t going smoothly. An announced discussion round with works councils, a real debate, with disputes about content, did not exist.

This is how the Adenauer-Haus imagined the event. In the end it was a party event with speeches by Hans and Merz, where not even the campaign engine, the Junge Union, felt like clapping anymore. The specially made hand signs with the inscription “Hans vote” remained on the chairs. A symbol of a botched election campaign.

Hopes rest on Günther and Wüst

Now they want to quickly look ahead. According to the motto: close your eyes and through, successes should come. In Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, the incumbents, Daniel Günther and Hendrik Wüst, have to assert themselves. So far, the chances that the CDU can defend its prime minister there are good.

Also because both drive a national political course. Above all, little has been heard from Günther at the federal level in recent weeks and months. The Prime Minister from Schleswig-Holstein relies on his office bonus. But it will not be a sure-fire success for him either.

For electoral successes in the north and in the west, a substantive effort is now also needed at the federal level. What is missing is the start of the announced program commission. What does Friedrich Merz’s CDU stand for? The party strategists in the Adenauer House have to clarify that. Because without a tailwind from Berlin, every state election is difficult. After all, after the lonely loss today in the Saar, they want to celebrate success together again in the future.