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Election loser Tobias Hans
Photo: Harald Tittel / dpa
Saarland Prime Minister
Tobias Hans
announced "personal consequences" after his party's election defeat.
"It's really a very bitter defeat for the Christian Democrats in the Saar," said the CDU politician on Sunday evening.
The CDU had to cope with a “severe setback”.
"And I also accept responsibility for this defeat." The CDU had not succeeded in putting the important issues in the foreground.
"That's why it's also a reason for me to take responsibility."
He did not say whether he would resign as CDU state chairman.
“But we will calmly discuss the exact processes of how this works now in the CDU Saar committees.” But he will draw personal conclusions.
In the first state election of the year, the SPD was the strongest party with a sweeping victory ahead of the CDU, which had to accept significant losses.
The new prime minister will be SPD top candidate Anke Rehlinger, previously economics minister in a black-red coalition.
The SPD must now decide whether and with which party they want to form a coalition, said Hans.
»I also stand by the things that I have been able to achieve for this country.
Even if not everyone liked it.
And when I say that this is a bitter defeat, then it is first of all a personal defeat at this point.«
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil
rated his party's victory as a successful first test of mood for the federal party six months after winning the federal election.
"The comeback of the SPD, which we experienced in the federal election, was not unique to the federal election, but we continue to win elections afterwards," he said.
First and foremost, the victory goes to the Saar SPD and their top candidate Rehlinger.
“It's a sensational victory that we're seeing there in Saarland.
His name is Anke Rehlinger, connected to the SPD in Saarland.«
"The Saarland voted red," said
Rehlinger
.
Social Democracy is once again the strongest force in the Saar.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert
spoke of a "landslide victory".
Linke boss Susanne Hennig-Wellsow
was deeply disappointed with the poor performance of her party.
According to initial projections, the left received less than three percent of the votes - a loss of around ten percentage points.
The result was "really bitter and a disaster," she said on ZDF.
"The result is certainly characterized by the fact that the left in Saarland has had fierce arguments over the past few years," she said.
"And that's the way it is: You don't vote for conflicting parties." Regarding the role of former party leader Oskar Lafontaine, who left the party shortly before the election, she said: "He knows his own responsibility."
FDP leader Christian Lindner
hopes that his party will enter the state parliament.
"The FDP has the chance to move into the state parliament after ten years of APO," said Lindner on ZDF.
"That's a remarkable starting point." APO stands for extra-parliamentary opposition - the Free Democrats were not recently represented in the Saarland state parliament.
Green leader Ricarda Lang
described her party's performance as a "very clear success".
The fact that the Greens are expected to be represented in all 16 state parliaments again is a "clear tailwind," said Lang.
Now it is up to Rehlinger, the winner of the election, to form a government.
The
federal chairman of the AfD, Tino Chrupalla
, expressed his delight at his party's return to the Saarland state parliament.
Given the focus on the race for the post of head of government, it was difficult for small parties.
But it is good that his party is again represented "as a corrective" in the state parliament, he said on ZDF.
as /dpa/Reuters/AFP
