# 2009 Saarland state election

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 | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 2004 result | 2004 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Peter Müller | 47.5% | 27 / 51 |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Heiko Maas | 30.8% | 18 / 51 |
| | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | Green politics | Hubert Ulrich | 5.6% | 3 / 51 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Christoph Hartmann | 5.2% | 3 / 51 |

## Opinion polling

| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | 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.
Summary of the 30 August 2009 election results for the Landtag of Saarland :
| Party | 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 | Total | 534,793 | 100.0 | | 51 | ±0 | |
| Voter turnout | Voter turnout | | 67.6 | 12.1 | | | |
Popular Vote
CDU
34.51%
SPD
24.54%
DIE LINKE
21.25%
FDP
9.17%
B'90/GRÜNE
5.89%
Other
4.63% :
Landtag seats
CDU
37.25%
SPD
25.49%
DIE LINKE
21.57%
FDP
9.80%
B'90/GRÜNE
5.88% :