2012 Saarland state election

After the 2009 state election, a Jamaica coalition (CDU–FDP–Green) government took office, the first of its kind in Germany. The government collapsed on 6 January 2012 due to internal issues in the FDP.[3] Minister-President Kramp-Karrenbauer stated that "[a] credible and reliable cooperation is no longer completely possible in this coalition."[3] The CDU held discussions with the Social Democratic Party in an attempt to form a grand coalition, but this failed, causing early elections to be called.[4]

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Saarland.

Summary of the 25 March 2012 election results for the Landtag of Saarland

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	169,617	35.2	0.7	19	0	37.3
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	147,170	30.6	6.1	17	4	33.3
	The Left (Linke)	77,612	16.1	5.2	9	2	17.6
	Pirate Party (Piraten)	35,656	7.4	7.4	4	4	7.8
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	24,252	5.0	0.9	2	1	3.9
	Family Party of Germany (FAMILIE)	8,394	1.7	0.3	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	5,871	1.2	8.0	0	5	0
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	5,606	1.2	0.3	0	±0	0
	Others	7,116	1.5		0	±0	0
Total		481,294	100.0		51	±0
Voter turnout			61.6	6.0

Having been reelected as the largest party in the Landtag, CDU was tasked with forming the government. Minister-President Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she was seeking to form a grand coalition with the SPD, which have 37 seats altogether. Both parties reached a coalition agreement on 24 April 2012. The CDU and SPD would control 3 ministries each. Kramp-Karrenbauer will also head the new government which will be sworn on 9 May 2012.[5]

On 9 May 2012 Kramp-Karrenbauer's new government gained the vote of confidence with 37 votes. There was 12 votes against and 2 abstentions. Her cabinet was later endorsed by the Landtag with the same number of votes.[6]