The politician took over the office of Prime Minister of Saarland in March 2018.
(Photo: IMAGO/BeckerBredel)
Saarbrucken Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans is giving up the CDU state presidency after the heavy defeat in the state elections. The 44-year-old said on Monday evening after a meeting of the CDU state board in Saarbrücken that a decision should be made about the personnel realignment at a party conference on May 28th. He himself will no longer stand for the state presidency. The previous President of the State Parliament, Stephan Toscani, declared his willingness to run for office at the meeting, said Hans.
In March 2018, Hans became Prime Minister and successor to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had switched to federal politics at the time. He has since led a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD. In autumn 2018, Hans also took over the CDU presidency in Saarland.
Hans had already announced a decision to resign on Sunday evening after the election: “It was an honor for me to have served this country as prime minister and an honor to have served you as party chairman,” he said.
He ran for the first time in a state election as a top candidate, but his party was unable to defend its position as the strongest force. According to the provisional final result, the CDU only received 28.5 percent of the votes and lost more than 12 percentage points compared to the 2017 state election (result 2017: 40.7 percent).
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The CDU had been the strongest party in the Saar state parliament for more than 22 years. Now she is being replaced by the SPD, which won the absolute majority with 43.5 percent and 29 out of 51 seats in the state parliament. Election winner Anke Rehlinger is aiming for a sole government of the SPD. Saarland, with almost a million inhabitants, is the smallest of the federal states. The state parliament with 51 members is the smallest in Germany.
Meanwhile, the CDU parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, Alexander Funk, was temporarily confirmed in office on Monday. A CDU party conference is planned for the end of May, after which the parliamentary group executive committee should also be re-elected, said Funk. State presidency and parliamentary group presidency belong in one hand in the opposition, he said.
More: Nothing to feel from the Merz bonus – Saarland election becomes bankrupt for the CDU boss