| Election Name: | 2012 Saarland state election |
| Country: | Saarland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2009 Saarland state election |
| Previous Year: | 2009 |
| Next Election: | 2017 Saarland state election |
| Next Year: | 2017 |
| Seats For Election: | All 51 seats of the Landtag of the Saarland |
| Majority Seats: | 26 |
| Election Date: | 25 March 2012 |
| Turnout: | 481,294 (61.6%) 6.0% |
| Leader1: | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer |
| Party1: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| Last Election1: | 19 seats, 34.5% |
| Seats1: | 19 |
| Seat Change1: | 0 |
| Popular Vote1: | 169,617 |
| Percentage1: | 35.2% |
| Swing1: | 0.7% |
| Leader2: | Heiko Maas |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
| Last Election2: | 13 seats, 24.5% |
| Seats2: | 17 |
| Seat Change2: | 4 |
| Popular Vote2: | 147,170 |
| Percentage2: | 30.6% |
| Swing2: | 6.1% |
| Leader3: | Oskar Lafontaine |
| Party3: | The Left (Germany) |
| Last Election3: | 11 seats, 21.3% |
| Seats3: | 9 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Popular Vote3: | 77,612 |
| Percentage3: | 16.1% |
| Swing3: | 5.2% |
| Leader4: | Jasmin Maurer |
| Party4: | Pirate Party Germany |
| Last Election4: | Did not contest |
| Seats4: | 4 |
| Seat Change4: | 4 |
| Popular Vote4: | 35,656 |
| Percentage4: | 7.4% |
| Swing4: | 7.4% |
| Leader5: | Simone Peter |
| Party5: | Alliance 90/The Greens |
| Last Election5: | 3 seats, 5.9% |
| Seats5: | 2 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 24,252 |
| Percentage5: | 5.0% |
| Swing5: | 0.9% |
| Minister-President | |
| Before Election: | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer |
| Before Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
| After Election: | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer |
| After Party: | Christian Democratic Union of Germany |
The 2012 Saarland state election was held in on 25 March 2012 to elect the members of the Landtag of Saarland. The election was triggered by the collapse of the previous coalition government comprising the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Free Democratic Party (FDP), and The Greens. The CDU subsequently formed a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Kramp-Karrenbauer was re-elected as Minister-President.[1] [2]
After the 2009 state election, a Jamaica coalition (CDU–FDP–Green) government took office, the first of its kind in Germany. The government collapsed on 6 January 2012 due to internal issues in the FDP.[3] Minister-President Kramp-Karrenbauer stated that "[a] credible and reliable cooperation is no longer completely possible in this coalition."[3] The CDU held discussions with the Social Democratic Party in an attempt to form a grand coalition, but this failed, causing early elections to be called.[4]
The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Saarland.
| Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2009 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||
| bgcolor= | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | Christian democracy | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer | 34.5% | |||
| bgcolor= | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | Social democracy | Heiko Maas | 24.5% | |||
| bgcolor= | Linke | The Left | Democratic socialism | Oskar Lafontaine | 21.3% | |||
| bgcolor= | FDP | Free Democratic Party | Classical liberalism | Oliver Luksic | 9.2% | |||
| bgcolor= | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens | Green politics | Simone Peter | 5.9% | |||
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | CDU | SPD | Linke | FDP | Grüne | Piraten | Others | Lead | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 state election | data-sort-value="2012-03-25" | 25 Mar 2012 | – | 35.2 | 30.6 | 16.1 | 1.2 | 5.0 | 7.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2012-03-16" | 13–15 Mar 2012 | 1,053 | 34 | 34 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2012-03-15" | 13–15 Mar 2012 | 1,000 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie |
| Forsa | data-sort-value="2012-03-09" | 20–29 Feb 2012 | 1,002 | 35 | 37 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2012-02-23" | 21–22 Feb 2012 | 1,001 | 35 | 36 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Emnid | data-sort-value="2012-01-27" | 24–25 Jan 2012 | 1,000 | 36 | 36 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | data-sort-value="0" | Tie |
| Forschungsgruppe Wahlen | data-sort-value="2012-01-26" | 23–25 Jan 2012 | 1,039 | 34 | 38 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2011-11-16" | 11–15 Nov 2011 | 1,000 | 32 | 35 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2010-11-04" | 1–3 Nov 2010 | 1,001 | 32 | 34 | 17 | 4 | 9 | – | 4 | 2 | |
| Infratest dimap | data-sort-value="2009-12-15" | 10–13 Dec 2009 | 1,000 | 32 | 29 | 19 | 9 | 7 | – | 4 | 3 | |
| 2009 state election | data-sort-value="2009-08-30" | 30 Aug 2009 | – | 34.5 | 24.5 | 21.3 | 9.2 | 5.9 | – | 4.6 | 10.0 |
|-| colspan=8| |-! colspan="2" | Party! Votes! %! +/-! Seats ! +/-! Seats %|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Christian Democratic Union (CDU)| align=right| 169,617| align=right| 35.2| align=right| 0.7| align=right| 19| align=right| 0| align=right| 37.3|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Social Democratic Party (SPD)| align=right| 147,170| align=right| 30.6| align=right| 6.1| align=right| 17| align=right| 4| align=right| 33.3|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | The Left (Linke)| align=right| 77,612| align=right| 16.1| align=right| 5.2| align=right| 9| align=right| 2| align=right| 17.6|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Pirate Party (Piraten)| align=right| 35,656| align=right| 7.4| align=right| 7.4| align=right| 4| align=right| 4| align=right| 7.8|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)| align=right| 24,252| align=right| 5.0| align=right| 0.9| align=right| 2| align=right| 1| align=right| 3.9|-! colspan=8||-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)| align=right| 8,394| align=right| 1.7| align=right| 0.3| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | Free Democratic Party (FDP)| align=right| 5,871| align=right| 1.2| align=right| 8.0| align=right| 0| align=right| 5| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=| | align=left | National Democratic Party (NPD)| align=right| 5,606| align=right| 1.2| align=right| 0.3| align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-| bgcolor=|| align=left | Others| align=right| 7,116| align=right| 1.5| align=right| | align=right| 0| align=right| ±0| align=right| 0|-! align=right colspan=2| Total! align=right| 481,294! align=right| 100.0! align=right| ! align=right| 51! align=right| ±0! align=right| |-! align=right colspan=2| Voter turnout! align=right| ! align=right| 61.6! align=right| 6.0! align=right| ! align=right| ! align=right| |}
Having been reelected as the largest party in the Landtag, CDU was tasked with forming the government. Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she was seeking to form a grand coalition with the SPD, which have 37 seats altogether. Both parties reached a coalition agreement on 24 April 2012. The CDU and SPD would control 3 ministries each. Kramp-Karrenbauer will also head the new government which will be sworn on 9 May 2012.[5]
On 9 May 2012 Kramp-Karrenbauer's new government gained the vote of confidence with 37 votes. There was 12 votes against and 2 abstentions. Her cabinet was later endorsed by the Landtag with the same number of votes.[6]