Politics of Saarland
Encyclopedia
The Politics of Saarland takes place within a framework of a federal
parliamentary representative democratic republic
, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Saarland
. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the rightist Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany
(SPD).
Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Saarland Landtag
. This regional parliament
or legislature
then elects the Minister-President
and confirms the cabinet members.
under the Treaty of Versailles
from 1920 until 1935. The Chairmen of the Commission of Government were:
were:
as a protectorate. Elections were held but pro-German parties were banned.
Minister-Presidents in this time were:
in 1957. Since then, its Minister-Presidents have been:
The election results have been:
Federal republic
A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. A federation is the central government. The states in a federation also maintain the federation...
parliamentary representative democratic republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
. The state has a multi-party system where the two main parties are the rightist Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(SPD).
Every five years, all Germans residing in the State over the age of 18 elect the members of the Saarland Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
. This regional parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
or legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
then elects the Minister-President
Minister-President
A minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers...
and confirms the cabinet members.
League of Nations
The "Territory of the Saar Basin" was governed by the League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
under the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
from 1920 until 1935. The Chairmen of the Commission of Government were:
- 1920 - 1926: Victor Rault (France)
- 1926 - 1927 George Washington StevensGeorge Washington Stephens (junior)George Washington Stephens was a Canadian politician.Born in Montreal, the son of George Washington Stephens and Elizabeth McIntosh, Stephens was educated at Montreal High School, McGill University, the University of Geneva, University of Marburg, and the University of Hanover. He worked with the...
(Canada) - 1927 - 1932 Sir Ernest Colville Collins Wilton (UK)
- 1932 - 1935 Sir Geoffrey George Knox (UK)
Nazi Germany
Saarland voted to rejoin Germany in 1935. The German-appointed ReichskommissarReichskommissar
Reichskommissar , in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....
were:
- 1935 - 1944: Josef BürckelJosef BürckelJoseph Bürckel was a German politician and a member of the German parliament...
(NSDAP) - 1944 - 1945: Willi StöhrWilli StöhrWilli Stöhr , German NSDAP official, was born in Wuppertal-Elberfeld. He joined the NSDAP in 1923. In 1932 he was made a senior official of the Hitler Youth movement, and in 1933, when the National Socialist movement came to power, he was appointed to administrative position in Frankfurt am Main,...
(NSDAP)
Saar protectorate
From 1947 to 1956, Saarland was controlled by FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as a protectorate. Elections were held but pro-German parties were banned.
Minister-Presidents in this time were:
- 1945 - 1946: Hans Neureuther, Leader of the Government under French administration
- 1946 - 1947: Erwin MüllerErwin MüllerErwin Wilhelm Müller was a German physicist who invented the Field Emission Electron Microscope , the Field Ion Microscope , and the Atom-Probe Field Ion Microscope...
, Chairman of the Administrative Commission - 1947 - 1955: Johannes HoffmannJohannes HoffmannJohannes Hoffmann was a Bavarian Minister-President and member of the SPD.-Life:Born in Ilbesheim, near Landau, his parents were Peter Hoffmann and Maria Eva Keller...
- 1955 - 1956: Heinrich WelschHeinrich WelschHeinrich Welsch was a politician but not a member of a political party. He was the Minister-President of the Saarland in 1955 and 1956....
(ind) - 1956 - 1957: Dr. Hubert NeyHubert NeyHubert Ney was a German politician and Minister-President of Saarland . He was born and died in Saarlouis.- External links :*...
, (CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
)
German state
Saarland joined the Federal Republic of GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1957. Since then, its Minister-Presidents have been:
- 1957 - 1959: Egon Reinert, CDU
- 1959 - 1979: Dr. Franz Josef Röder, CDU
- 1979 (26 June - 5 July): Werner KlumppWerner KlumppWerner Klumpp is a German politician. He was a German politician of the FDP. After the death of Franz-Josef Röder he was the interim Minister-President of the Saarland ....
, FDP, interim - 1979 - 1985: Werner Zeyer, CDU
- 1985 - 1998: Oskar LafontaineOskar LafontaineOskar Lafontaine is a German politician, former German finance minister, former chairman of the Social Democratic Party and former Minister-President of the state of Saarland. Since 2007 he was co-chairman of The Left...
, SPD - 1998 - 1999: Reinhard KlimmtReinhard KlimmtReinhard Klimmt is a German politician . From 1998 to 1999, he was Premier of Saarland, and 1999–2000, Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.- Personal life :...
, SPD - 1999 - today: Peter Müller, CDU
The election results have been:
| Year | CDU | SPD | FDP/DPS | Grüne | Die Linke | CVP | SPS | DPS | KP | DDU | Others |
| 1947 | - | - | - | - | - | 51,2 %* | 32,8 % | 7,6 % | 8,4 % | - | - |
| 1952 | - | - | - | - | - | 54,7 % | 32,4 % | - | 9,5 % | - | 3,4 % |
| 1955 | 25,4 % | 14,3 % | - | - | - | 21,8 % | 5,8 % | 24,2 % | 6,8 % | 0,9 % | 1,0 % |
| 1960 | 36,6 % | 30,0 % | - | - | - | 11,4 % | - | 13,6 % | - | 5,0 % | 3,4 % |
| 1965 | 42,7 % | 40,7 % | 8,3 % | - | - | 5,2 % | - | - | - | - | 3,1 % |
| 1970 | 47,8 % | 40,8 % | 4,4 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7,0 % |
| 1975 | 49,1 % | 41,8 % | 7,4 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1,7 % |
| 1980 | 44,0 % | 45,4 % | 6,9 % | 2,9 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0,8 % |
| 1985 | 37,3 % | 49,2 % | 10,0 % | 2,5 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1,0 % |
| 1990 | 33,4 % | 54,4 % | 5,6 % | 2,6 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4,0 % |
| 1994 | 38,6 % | 49,4 % | 2,1 % | 5,5 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4,5 % |
| 1999 | 45,5 % | 44,4 % | 2,6 % | 3,2 % | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4,3 % |
| 2004 | 47,5 % | 30,8 % | 5,2 % | 5,6 % | 2,3 % | - | - | - | - | - | 8,6 % |
| 2009 Saarland state election, 2009 State elections were held in Saarland on 30 August 2009, the same date as the Saxony and Thuringia state elections. The election decided control of the Landtag of Saarland .-Results:... |
34,5 % | 24,5 % | 9,2 % | 5,9 % | 21,5 % | - | - | - | - | - | 4,4 % |
Election 2004
In this election, the governing CDU increased its majority from 1 to 3 seats in parliament. The Greens and the FDP re-entered parliament.| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage | Total Seats | Seat percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 209,690 | 47.5% (+2.0) | 27 (+1) | 52.9% |
| Social Democratic Party Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... (SPD) |
136,224 | 30.8% (-13.6) | 18 (-7) | 35.3% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... (Grüne) |
24,830 | 5.6% (+2.4) | 3 (+3) | 5.9% |
| Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... (FDP) |
22,842 | 5.2% (+2.6) | 3 (+3) | 5.9% |
| National Democratic Party National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"... (NPD) |
17,590 | 4.0% (+4.0) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Family Party Family Party of Germany The Family Party of Germany is a minor conservative German political party . It was created in 1981 and is led since 1989 by pediatrician Dr. Franz-Josef Breyer. It has elected members to several local councils in the Saarland. In the 2005 federal elections, the Family Party received 0.4% of the... |
13,106 | 3.0% (+2.0) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 10,240 | 2.3% (+1.5) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| The Grays The Grays – Gray Panthers The Greys – Grey Panthers was a German political party and interest group founded by activist Trude Unruh. Their main areas of focus were the protection of the interests of seniors and the securing of stable pensions. They were also active on environmental issues.... |
6,285 | 1.4% (+1.4) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| All Others | 821 | 0.2% (-2.3) | 0 (+0) | 0.0% |
| Totals | 441,628 | 100.0% | 51 | 100.0% |