2014 Saxony state election

After the 2009 state election, held a month before the 2009 federal election, the CDU–SPD grand coalition left office and was replaced by a CDU-led coalition with the FDP. The FDP suffered a major decline in support nationally after 2009, culminating in their ejection from the Bundestag in the 2013 federal election. Thus, in the lead-up to the 2014 state election, the Saxony state government was the only government nationwide that included the FDP. It seemed unlikely this coalition could continue after the election, as polling indicated the FDP may not even pass the 5% threshold to enter the Landtag.

The largest opposition party was The Left. Polling indicated that a coalition between The Left, the SPD and The Greens may have been able to secure a majority, but this option was rejected by both the SPD and the Greens prior to the election.

For the SPD, the state election in Saxony was their second electoral test (after the European elections) since becoming the junior partner in the federal grand coalition. Polls suggested that the public viewed the SPD's role in government as positive; issues that had been worked on by the government were primarily election promises of the SPD. Despite this, all polls showed that the SPD was headed for another third-place finish in the state election. The SPD's election campaign was centred on their lead candidate, Martin Dulig, who involved his family in the campaign. Dulig was also supported by former federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was hoping to win seats in a state parliament for the first time. In both the 2013 federal election and the 2013 European elections, AfD had achieved its strongest results in Saxony (6.8% in the federal election and 10.1% in the European elections).[1]

The National Democratic Party (NPD) had won seats in Saxony in 2004 and retained them, with losses, in 2009. Polling and election results for the NPD had trended downwards since then, with most polls suggesting the party would not cross the 5% threshold and would thus lose their representation.

The Pirate Party won 1.9% of the vote in the previous state election. Despite polling in late 2011 and 2012 showing its support up to as much as 9% in Saxony, the party lost most of its popularity throughout 2013, and the party had averaged around 2% in Saxony since the end of the year.

The table below lists parties represented in the 5th Landtag of Saxony.

Summary of the 31 August 2014 election results for the Landtag of Saxony

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	645,515	39.4	0.8	59	1	46.8
	The Left (Linke)	309,581	18.9	1.7	27	2	21.4
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	202,396	12.4	2.0	18	4	14.3
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	159,611	9.7	New	14	New	11.1
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	93,857	5.7	0.7	8	1	6.4
	National Democratic Party (NPD)	81,051	4.9	0.7	0	8	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	61,840	3.8	6.2	0	14	0
	Free Voters (FW)	26,434	1.6	0.2	0	±0	0
	Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutz)	18,611	1.1	1.0	0	±0	0
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	18,157	1.1	0.8	0	±0	0
	Others	20,547	1.3		0	±0	0
Total		1,637,499	100.0		126	6
Voter turnout			49.1	3.1

Due to the ejection of the FDP from the Landtag, the CDU was forced to seek new coalition partners.[6] Minister-President Tillich ruled out a coalition with AfD.[7]

The CDU held exploratory talks with the Greens and the SPD. Talks with the Greens were inconclusive; the Greens claimed that education policy and energy policy were the sticking points. Antje Hermenau, the Greens' lead candidate, then resigned on 20 September.[8]

Coalition talks began on 19 September between the CDU and the SPD. On 9 November 2014, the SPD announced that 82.2% of its members had voted in favour of the coalition agreement between the CDU and SPD.[9]