Européen Unie Shall Transform Into Union of European Countries - Trend towards specific European elections in Saarland follows a federal pattern.
In Saarland, the outcome of the European election signifies the attitude towards federal politics, as stated by political scientist Uwe Jun from Trier. He explained to the German Press Agency on Monday that the CDU benefited from the trend on a national level, similar to how the SPD in Saarland had to contend with pressure coming from Berlin. This means that the SPD in Saarland must accept setbacks, though it's still higher than the national average at 20%. Jun also disclosed that federal politics played a major role in the rise of the AfD in Saarland.
Jun further clarified that the European politics weren't a significant factor in the election, and that regional topics didn't make a big impact either. He attributed the superior-than-average performance of the Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht - BSW in Saarland to its already strong presence there and the fact that some of its members had to leave their previous political homes, following Wagenknecht's husband Oskar Lafontaine who has been a member of the BSW since its inception at the start of the year. The couple resides in the town of Merzig in Saarland.
In the European election in Saarland, the CDU is the leading party, albeit with 3.2 percentage points lesser than in the previous election. The single-party SPD earned 20.5% (loss of 2.6 percentage points), with the AfD emerging as the third-strongest party with 15.7% (a 6.0 percentage point increase). The Greens experienced considerable losses, dropping to 6.6% (minus 6.6 percentage points), while the FDP seized 4.7% (plus 1.0). The new party BSW managed to secure 7.9% and surpassed its national result. Voter turnout in Saarland was 67.9% (fifteen percentage points higher).
