SSince Saarland joined the Federal Republic in 1955, the CDU has not done so poorly in a state election as it did on Sunday. The mood among the Christian Democrats the day after is correspondingly bad. Alexander Funk, CDU parliamentary group leader in the Saar state parliament, speaks on Monday in Saarbrücken of a “disastrous result”, the causes of which are technical, strategic and organizational errors. He doesn’t want to explain exactly which ones – you now have “all the time in the world” for an analysis.
But some in the party are more specific. The defeat in the elections has federal but also many state political reasons, it is said. So the Saarland was let down by the federal party. In March, the entire federal executive board came to visit, but hardly anyone afterwards. As far as state political reasons are concerned, the top candidate, Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU), is partially protected. For the SPD top candidate Anke Rehlinger it was enough to show the “rhombus” and repeat Angela Merkel’s “You know me”, says a member.
Too many mistakes in the campaign
Others accuse Hans of constantly changing political positions, for example in education, but above all in corona policy. An example of this: Not even CDU members can currently tell you whether Hans is in favor of compulsory vaccination or against it. He is also accused of holding on to controversial figures in his cabinet for too long, such as the often erratic Interior Minister Klaus Bouillon. Hans also made too many mistakes in the election campaign, which was also badly organized.
The party must now “reposition itself in terms of personnel”, demands the CDU parliamentary group leader Funk. On the evening of the election, Hans announced that he would take action. After the meeting of the CDU state board on Monday evening, he then announced his resignation from the party chairmanship. He himself will no longer stand for the state presidency, said Hans. The previous President of the State Parliament, Stephan Toscani, declared his willingness to run for office at the meeting of the committee. It is the end of a very short era. It was only at the beginning of 2018 that Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer surprisingly made Hans his successor.
Toscani would be the leader of the only genuine parliamentary opposition. In addition to an all-dominating SPD parliamentary group and a smaller CDU parliamentary group, only a completely divided AfD parliamentary group will be represented in the new state parliament, whose party did not even manage to draw up a joint state list before the election and is now expected that it splits soon after the constitution of the state parliament.
Rehlinger: Have to live up to the leap of faith
While the winner of the election, Rehlinger, was still cautious on the evening of the election in terms of possible government constellations, on Monday she announced a one-party government in view of the clear absolute majority (29 out of 51 seats). The SPD can thus occupy six instead of three ministries in the future. A turning point is also imminent for subordinate authorities and companies with state participation – the SPD and CDU have divided the benefices among themselves for decades.
On Monday, Rehlinger described the absolute majority as a “leap of faith”, which her party wants to live up to. During the election campaign, Rehlinger had set 400,000 jobs subject to social security contributions as a goal, but the Saarland is facing far-reaching economic changes. At the Ford plant in Saarlouis alone, which is currently on the brink, thousands of jobs are in danger of being lost. On Monday, Rehlinger called for the “billions” that are needed to handle the transformation, and that the federal government must also “make a contribution” here.
Wants to live up to the voters’ trust: election winner Anke Rehlinger (SPD)
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Image: Frank Röth
According to Rehlinger and her SPD, the result of the election was mainly due to the unity of the party and the good government work as a partner of the CDU. However, as post-election surveys show, the SPD owes the furious result above all to its top candidate. She achieved popularity ratings like Kramp-Karrenbauer once did and was considered by voters to be more credible, competent and likeable than Hans.
What role did Lafontaine’s exit play?
The SPD also owes its election victory to the left. As a result of years of inner-party quarrels, it plummets to just 2.6 percent – that’s roughly the PDS level in 2004. In the intervening years, the Left Party under former Saar Prime Minister Oskar Lafontaine had achieved values of over 20 percent, which the CDU was able to do be sure of their election victory at the time.
Shortly before the election, Lafontaine resigned from the party. A “gross foul” and “main cause” for the failure of the left, says party leader Thomas Lutze on Monday and warns that if the left does not succeed in reorganizing soon, “the lights will go out”.
There is also disappointment among the Greens and the FDP, both of whom failed to re-enter the state parliament. According to the provisional result, the Greens fail as narrowly as possible with 4.99 percent, 23 votes are missing. “Particularly bitter” calls the top candidate Lisa Becker on Monday. The Greens now want to try to recount. The decisive votes are likely to have been taken away from them due to their years of internal disputes by micro-parties such as the Animal Welfare Party (2.3 percent), in which many frustrated former Greens have gathered.
The FDP is also deeply disappointed, having had to build on ten years of extra-parliamentary opposition with only 4.8 percent approval. The FDP state chairman Oliver Luksic, who remains somewhat at a loss in the analysis, sums up a “bitter election evening”. As a possible reason, he cites the “very modern appearance” of the FDP, which may not have been well received in the country. The election campaign also lacked a mobilizing topic, but the FDP “honestly” couldn’t think of one.