Voting processes. - Manuela Ripa is the sole MEP representing Saarland.
Manuela Ripa, who represents the Ecological-Democratic Party (ODP), is the sole Saarlander set to be in the European Parliament for the next five years. She secured a spot on her party's federal list, making her eligible for a seat in the European Parliament after the unofficial results of the recent elections were announced. "I'm thrilled to continue promoting ecological politics not just for Saarland, but on a larger scale," Ripa stated to the German Press Agency on the following day. "Saarland holds a special place in my heart."
Christian Petry from the Saarland SPD and Roland Theis from the CDU failed to secure seats in the European Parliament. For either party to have a representative in Brussels, they would have needed to perform better nationally.
Saarland, situated beside the French border, is seen as a highly European state. In the 2014 European election, two Saarlanders secured a seat in the European Parliament. Saarland was the first German state to incorporate the European Union as a state objective into its constitution in 1992.
Bundestag member Petry lamented his missed opportunity to make it to the European Parliament, saying, "I'm disheartened because Saarland would have benefitted from having someone there to oversee larger projects, like transforming the steel industry."
Theis, a CDU state parliamentarian, felt similarly: "It's a let down that, despite a standard CDU performance nationally, we were unable to send anyone to the European Parliament."
Dr. Uwe Jun, a Trier political scientist, expressed his disappointment for the two primary parties' inability to put forth a representative in the European Parliament. "This is an unwelcome development for the people of Saarland, who pride themselves on maintaining strong connections with Europe."
In the CDU, they garnered 29.3% of the votes, compared to their 32.5% in 2019, making them the leading party in Saarland for the European elections. Meanwhile, the SPD received 20.5% (a decrease of 2.6 points), the AfD climbed to 15.7% (an increase of 6.0 points), the Greens experienced a severe drop to 6.6% (a loss of 6.6 points), and the FDP saw a marginal increase of 4.7% (up 1.0).
Newcomer Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht accomplished 7.9% (which significantly surpassed their national result). The voter turnout in Saarland was 67.9% (increased by 1.6 percentage points).
