Ex-athlete soon Saarland boss?

SPD candidate still holds an athletics record

Created: 03/26/2022, 20:16

By: Andreas Schmid

SPD top candidate for the Saarland election: Anke Rehlinger.

© Oliver Dietze/dpa

Anke Rehlinger holds a state record in shot put, but also aims high in the state elections in Saarland.

A portrait of the SPD top candidate.

Saarbrücken - You have to go back to the 1990s to find the last Saarland prime minister from the SPD.

Oskar Lafontaine was Prime Minister in Saarbrücken from 1985 to 1998.

When he was appointed Federal Minister of Finance, Reinhard Klimmt temporarily took over.

However, he and the SPD were voted out in 1999.

Since then, the prime minister's office has been in the hands of the CDU - current polls, however, indicate a clear electoral defeat for the CDU.

Anke Rehlinger wants to change that.

She is the top candidate of the Social Democrats for the upcoming state elections on March 27 (all information in the news ticker).

A portrait of the SPD politician.

State elections in Saarland: SPD sends Hans-Vize Rehlinger into the race

Rehlinger was born in Wadern in Saarland in 1976 and joined the SPD at the age of 22.

In her first political years, she held offices as district chairwoman and in the regional association of Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD.

Rehlinger also made a name for himself in the state association of the SPD.

As deputy chairwoman, she put the SPD up as the top candidate for the state elections in 2017.

However, Rehlinger had no chance against CDU politician Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Because "AKK" switched to federal politics a year after the election, Tobias Hans took over.

Rehlinger now wants to challenge him - now also as the first chairman of the Saar SPD.

Since 2014 she has also been Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Economics, Labour, Energy and Transport.

State elections in Saarland: SPD candidate holds athletics record

Incidentally, Rehlinger was a gifted athlete in her youth.

She was one of the best track and field athletes in Saarland.

To this day, she holds the Saarland record in shot put (16.03 meters) and the youth record in discus throw (49.18 meters).

"Sport has always been part of my life," says Rehlinger himself.

Anke Rehlinger 2016 at the Saarland Championships in shot put.

In the W40 age group, she won the competition with a jump of 10.53 meters.

© Becker&Bredel/Imago

State elections in Saarland: SPD and Rehlinger ahead in polls - coalition without CDU?

Incidentally, in the polls shortly before the state elections, Rehlinger's SPD was ahead of the CDU.

In the TV duel before the election, incumbent Hans saw the good poll numbers for Rehlinger as a compliment "for the good work of the entire government".

A grand coalition of CDU and SPD governs Saarland.

An alliance that cannot be ruled out even after the state elections.

A traffic light coalition with the SPD, Greens and FDP, as at the federal level, is also possible.

Mathematically, Red-Red-Green with the Left Party instead of the FDP also seems possible.

However, Rehlinger does not want to overstate the polls.

On March 15, she told the

: "The only important poll is called the state election and will take place on March 27.

instead."