European Union - In Saarland, elections are influenced by national trends.
Political scientist Uwe Jun noted that the outcome of the European election in Saarland represents the sentiment towards federal politics. "The CDU is experiencing favorable conditions at the national level," Jun told the German Press Agency in Trier on Monday. "The Saar-CDU has capitalized on this positive momentum, while the Saar-SPD has had to contend with negative influences from Berlin." Despite these setbacks, the SPD in Saarland still has around 20% support, considerably higher than the national average. Jun believes that federal politics were a significant factor in the rise of the AfD in Saarland. In general, European politics had limited influence on the election, and regional politics did not factor in significantly.
According to Minister President and Saar-SPD Chairman Anke Rehlinger, her party cannot be satisfied with the outcome of the European election. Firstly, because no Saarland SPD member made it to the European Parliament, and secondly, because it finished behind the AfD - both of which are alarming results. "We should just focus on the negative aspects here," Rehlinger said, "this is clearly disappointing or, in more blunt terms, it's a bad outcome."
Rehlinger is particularly concerned by the strong performance of the AfD: "We shouldn't resort to insulting voters – instead, we need to look for ways – and we haven't found any yet – to provide a democratic and social democratic alternative."
Uwe Jun suggests that the strong performance of the Sahra Wagenknecht BSW coalition in Saarland is due to the fact that the Left party has historically had a strong presence in the region, and some of its members have become politically homeless. These individuals, such as Oskar Lafontaine, are now members of the BSW formed earlier this year. Wagenknecht and Lafontaine reside in the Saarland town of Merzig.
Stephan Toscani, CDU Chairman, said his party emerged as the clear winner from the Saarland European election, despite losing some ground. The Christian Democrats received 29.3% of the votes - 3.2 percentage points less than in the 2019 European election. The SPD, which governs Saarland alone, received 20.5% (a drop of 2.6 percentage points). "We're the clear victors," said Toscani. "There's some positive momentum for the 2027 state elections here, serving as a vote of no confidence in the current red coalition in Berlin and a blow to Anke Rehlinger and her SPD."
The AfD finished third with 15.7% (up 6.0 percentage points), the Greens slumped to 6.6% (a decline of 6.6 percentage points), the FDP took 4.7% (a gain of 1.0 percentage point), and the new party BSW secured 7.9%. The voter turnout in Saarland stood at 67.9% (up 1.6 percentage points).
