Saarland
Saar-SPD top candidate strives for “stable government”.
Anke Rehlinger (SPD) hopes for an election victory. Photo: Harald Tittel/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Ten days before the state elections in Saarland, a TV round of the top candidates covered many topics. The question of who could rule with whom in the end was particularly exciting.
The Saarland SPD top candidate Anke Rehlinger has promised a “stable and reliable government” in the event of a victory in the state elections.
“I have great sympathy for the grand coalition, but in the end it’s the voters who decide. And then we will have to decide what kind of government we can form, »said the Economics Minister in a TV broadcast by Saarländisches Rundfunk (SR) on the final spurt of the election campaign. She did not comment on a possible traffic light coalition with the FDP and the Greens.
CDU versus SPD
Saarland is currently governed by a grand coalition led by the CDU. Prime Minister and CDU top candidate Tobias Hans said Saarland needed “stable majorities” and that’s why he wanted to continue the grand coalition under his leadership. “If it’s enough, and if the CDU wins the election, then I’ll immediately invite Anke Rehlinger to continue the work.” Polls are polls, at the end of the day what’s in the ballot box on March 27 counts.
According to a current survey, the ARD “Saarlandtrend”, the SPD is still well ahead of the CDU. If there were state elections on Sunday, the Social Democrats would get 37 and the CDU 31 percent of the vote. The AfD is in third place with six percent. The Greens and FDP – both currently not represented in the state parliament – each have five percent in fear of entering the state parliament. According to the survey, the left would miss this by four percent.
According to the pollsters, two coalitions are possible with regard to the survey: an SPD-led grand coalition or a traffic light. In the live broadcast, the top candidate of the FDP, Angelika Hießerich-Peter, already made a coalition offer to Rehlinger.
The Green top candidate Lisa Becker warned that in the future there could only be three parties in the state parliament – the CDU, SPD and AfD – and that the AfD would become the only opposition party. She criticized the fact that the election campaign was concentrating on the prime minister question and thus on the CDU and SPD. Diversity is needed in the state parliament and therefore also “strong Greens”. The top candidate of the left, Barbara Spaniol, said that Saarland had experienced “a lot of standstill” with the grand coalition. That’s where the left is needed.
A new state parliament will be elected in Saarland on March 27th. The state has been governed by a grand coalition since 2012. In Germany’s smallest area, the CDU has been the prime minister since 1999.
In the state elections in March 2017, the CDU received 40.7 percent of the votes, the SPD received 29.6 percent. The left reached 12.8 percent, the AfD 6.2 percent. Greens (4.0) and FDP (3.3) missed the jump over the five percent hurdle.