Saar CDU boss Hans resigns after election defeat

Created: 2022-03-28Updated: 2022-03-28 9:33 PM

Saarland's Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) makes a press statement after the meeting of the CDU state board.

© Oliver Dietze/dpa

After the clear defeat of the CDU in the state elections in Saarland, party leader and top candidate Hans is taking the announced consequences.

The party has to reposition itself in terms of personnel.

A first applicant has already registered.

Saarbrücken - Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans is giving up the CDU state presidency after the heavy defeat in the state elections.

The 44-year-old said on Monday evening after a meeting of the CDU state board in Saarbrücken that a decision should be made about the personnel realignment at a party conference on May 28th.

He himself will no longer stand for the state presidency.

The previous President of the State Parliament, Stephan Toscani, declared his willingness to run for office at the meeting, said Hans.

In March 2018, Hans became Prime Minister and successor to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had switched to federal politics at the time.

He has since led a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD.

In autumn 2018, Hans also took over the CDU presidency in Saarland.

Hans had already announced a decision to resign on Sunday evening after the election: "It was an honor for me to have served this country as prime minister and an honor to have served you as party chairman," he said.

He ran for the first time in a state election as a top candidate, but his party was unable to defend its position as the strongest force.

According to the provisional final result, the CDU only received 28.5 percent of the votes and lost more than 12 percentage points compared to the 2017 state election (result 2017: 40.7 percent).

The CDU had been the strongest party in the Saar state parliament for more than 22 years.

Now she is being replaced by the SPD, which won the absolute majority with 43.5 percent and 29 out of 51 seats in the state parliament.

Saarland, with almost a million inhabitants, is the smallest of the federal states.

The state parliament with 51 members is the smallest in Germany.

more on the subject

Saarland: SPD sovereign winner - CDU: No signal effect

Saarland election: Hans and Rehlinger in the campaign final sprint

Hans after the Saar election: take on political responsibility

Meanwhile, the CDU parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, Alexander Funk, was temporarily confirmed in office on Monday.

A CDU party conference is planned for the end of May, after which the parliamentary group executive committee should also be re-elected, said Funk.

State presidency and parliamentary group presidency belong in one hand in the opposition, he said.

Before Hans became prime minister, he was a member of the state parliament from 2009, and in 2015 he chaired the CDU parliamentary group until he moved to the state chancellery.

Hans did not complete his studies in information science, business informatics and English, he started out as a personal assistant to the then Minister of Health.

dpa