2009 Saarland state election
Introduction The '''2009 Saarland state election''' was held on 30 August 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Saarland. It was held on the same day as state elections in Saxony and Thuringia. The incumbent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government led by Minister-President Peter Müller lost its majority. The CDU subsequently formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and The Greens, and Müller was re-elected as Minister-President. This was the first Jamaica coalition formed in Germany.
Parties The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Saarland. Name Ideology Leader(s) 2004 result Votes (%) Seats '''CDU''' Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Peter Müller 47.5%  '''SPD''' Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Heiko Maas 30.8%  '''Grüne''' Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics Hubert Ulrich 5.6%  '''FDP''' Free Democratic Party Classical liberalism Christoph Hartmann 5.2%
Opinion polling  Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize CDU SPD Grüne FDP Linke Others Lead  2009 state election 30 Aug 2009 – '''34.5''' 24.5 5.9 9.2 21.3 4.6 10.0  Forschungsgruppe Wahlen 17–20 Aug 2009 1,000 '''36''' 26 6 9 16 7 10  Infratest dimap 18–20 Aug 2009 1,000 '''38''' 26 6 9 15 6 12  Infratest dimap 20–21 Apr 2009 1,000 '''36''' 27 7 9 18 3 9  Emnid 2–10 Mar 2009 1,000 '''38''' 23 5 8 22 4 15  Infratest dimap 23–26 Oct 2008 1,000 '''38''' 25 5 6 23 3 13  dimap 11–16 Sep 2008 1,003 '''42''' 22 6 6 20 4 20  Emnid 26 Aug–2 Sep 2008 1,002 '''40''' 23 5 6 22 4 17  Forsa 25–29 Aug 2008 1,001 '''37''' 23 5 7 24 4 13  Emnid 13–27 Feb 2008 ~500 '''40''' 25 7 6 19 ? 15  Infratest dimap Sep 2007 1,000 '''41''' 26 6 5 18 4 15  Emnid 30 Apr–16 May 2007 504 '''40''' 26 8 8 13 5 14  SaarZoom Jun 2007 600 '''36''' 35 8 7 13 1 1  Infratest dimap 9–14 Nov 2006 1,000 '''39''' 34 6 7 10 4 5  Infratest 29 Aug–10 Sep 2006 1,000 '''38''' 31 5 8 13 5 7  Infratest dimap 14–17 Jul 2005 1,000 '''43''' 23 6 5 19 4 20  Infratest 27 Jan–1 Feb 2005 1,000 '''44''' 36 7 5 – 8 8  2004 state election 5 Sep 2004 – '''47.5''' 30.8 5.6 5.2 2.3 10.9 16.7
Election result Both the CDU and SPD suffered significant losses, losing almost 20% of vote share between them. This came primarily to the benefit of The Left, which achieved by far its best result in a western state, debuting at 21.3%. The Greens and Free Democratic Party (FDP) also benefited to a lesser degree. As in a number of western states during the 2007–2009 period, the entry of The Left meant that neither the CDU–FDP nor SPD–Green coalitions won a majority. 350px Party Votes % +/- Seats  +/- Seats %  Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 184,537 34.5 13.0 19 8 37.3  Social Democratic Party (SPD) 131,241 24.5 6.3 13 5 25.5  The Left (Linke) 113,664 21.3 19.0 11  11 21.6  Free Democratic Party (FDP) 49,064 9.2 4.0 5 2 9.8  Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) 31,516 5.9 0.3 3 0 5.9  Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE) 10,710 2.0 1.0 0 ±0 0  National Democratic Party (NPD) 8,099 1.5 2.5 0 ±0 0 Others 5,962 1.1  0 ±0 0 Total 534,793 100.0  51 ±0  Voter turnout  67.6 12.1
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