2009 Saarland state election

2009 Saarland state election

← 2004 30 August 2009 2012 →
All 51 seats in the Landtag of Saarland 26 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	534,793 (67.6%) 12.1%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Peter Müller Heiko Maas Oskar Lafontaine Party CDU SPD Left Last election 27 seats, 47.5% 18 seats, 30.8% 0 seats, 2.3%[a] Seats won 19 13 11 Seat change 8 5 11 Popular vote 184,537 131,241 113,664 Percentage 34.5% 24.5% 21.3% Swing 13.0% 6.3% 19.0%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Christoph Hartmann Party FDP Green Last election 3 seats, 5.2% 3 seats, 5.6% Seats won 5 3 Seat change 2 0 Popular vote 49,064 31,516 Percentage 9.2% 5.9% Swing 4.0% 0.3%
Minister-President before election Peter Müller CDU Elected Minister-President Peter Müller CDU

The 2009 Saarland state election was held on 30 August 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Saarland. It was held on the same day as state elections in Saxony and Thuringia. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Peter Müller lost its majority. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and The Greens, and Müller was re-elected as Minister-President. This was the first Jamaica coalition formed in Germany.

Parties[]

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Saarland.

Opinion polling[]

Election result[]

Both the CDU and SPD suffered significant losses, losing almost 20% of vote share between them. This came primarily to the benefit of The Left, which achieved by far its best result in a western state, debuting at 21.3%. The Greens and Free Democratic Party (FDP) also benefited to a lesser degree. As in a number of western states during the 2007–2009 period, the entry of The Left meant that neither the CDU–FDP nor SPD–Green coalitions won a majority.^[1]

Summary of the 30 August 2009 election results for the Landtag of Saarland

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	184,537	34.5	13.0	19	8	37.3
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	131,241	24.5	6.3	13	5	25.5
	The Left (Linke)	113,664	21.3	19.0[b]	11	11[c]	21.6
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	49,064	9.2	4.0	5	2	9.8
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	31,516	5.9	0.3	3	0	5.9
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	10,710	2.0	1.0	0	±0	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	8,099	1.5	2.5	0	±0	0
	Others	5,962	1.1		0	±0	0
Total		534,793	100.0		51	±0
Voter turnout			67.6	12.1

Notes[]

References[]