According to an analysis by the Wahlen research group, the SPD in Saarland owes its high election victory on Sunday largely to its top candidate Anke Rehlinger. “Here, a very strong challenger from the SPD meets an unconvincing CDU prime minister, whose party’s reputation and expertise are collapsing,” according to the state election survey. “On the other hand, the Saar-SPD convinces in addition to the top candidate with reputation and good work, but also benefits from the collapse of the left.”
When asked about the desired prime minister, 57 percent of voters would have voted for challenger Rehlinger. Incumbent Hans is lagging behind at 31 percent.
Despite good grades for the chancellor, the federal government and the actions of the traffic light coalition in the Ukraine crisis, the election is “not a yardstick for the federal government”, the analysis continues. “With its own topics and people, structural features and specific party strengths, the election in the small Saarland retains its individual-regional character.”
Regardless of the war in Ukraine, according to the research group Wahlen, similar to 2017, politics in the country was more important for 65 percent of voters. The work of the SPD is rated better at 1.9 on the +5/-5 scale than that of the CDU (1.1).
In terms of policy, the Union is now showing considerable deficits: when it comes to the labor market and jobs, the SPD is unusually clearly ahead of the CDU. The voters of the SPD also trusted more expertise on the topics of infrastructure, social justice, economy, education and the future, the CDU only led on the topic of Corona.
The left also suffered record losses. According to the analysis, this is due to bad grades for their work and the fact that they hardly have any professional skills, but also because of the lack of a figurehead: For 78 percent of those surveyed, the left was “only so strong because of Oskar Lafontaine” in Saarland elections. This did not appear again.
According to the Wahlen research group, the election was a clear vote for a change of leadership on site. Accordingly, 45 percent of those surveyed would find it good if the SPD were now to govern alone in Saarland.