Sizeable Boost For Scholz And SPD In Saarland Election

The regional election in Germany's least populous non-city state, Saarland, on 27 March delivered a major victory for the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The SPD won an overall majority of seats, a notoriously difficult feat to achieve given Germany's proportional electoral system. The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which had governed as the senior partner alongside the SPD, will now go into oppositon.

• Election result (Seats): SPD: 29 (+12), CDU: 19 (-5), AfD: 3 (=), Die Linke: 0 (-7).
• Election result (Vote share): SPD: 43.9% (+13.9), CDU: 28.5% (-12.2), AfD: 5.7% (-0.5), Green: 4.99% (1), FDP: 4.8% (+1.5), Die Linke: 2.6% (-10.3).
• While the Saarland election in itself is not a significant market event, the win will nonetheless provide a political boost for Chancellor Scholz and his SPD going into more significant state elections later in the year (Schleswig-Holstein on May 8; in North Rhine-Westphalia, the biggest state in terms of population, on May 15; and in Lower Saxony on October 9).
• The Greens fell 23 votes short of the 5% electoral threshold required to win seats.