CDU wins in Saarland

The CDU brought in 35.2 percent of the vote, according to early election returns. They are expected to form a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), which polled just over 30 percent.

The Left party won 16.1 percent of the vote.

Entering the state parliament for the first time will be the Pirate Party, which polled 7.4 percent. The Green Party barely cleared the mandatory five percent hurdle required for parliamentary representation. The Free Democrats (FDP), however, only polled 1.2 percent and will not be represented, representing a drastic drop in support from 2009 when they polled 9.2 percent in state elections.

This further weakens the coalition of CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel, who created a coalition with the FDP at the national level. The FDP's popularity has been in a downward spiral of late, which could lead Merkel to seek a new coalition partner when she stands for reelection to a third term as chancellor in 2013.

Saarland CDU premier Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer called the snap election in January after expelling the FDP from her tripartite state coalition government, which also included the Greens.

With fewer than one million registered voters, the outcome in Saarland is not likely to significantly impact Germany's federal political landscape. Upcoming snap elections in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, and in the strategically important Schleswig-Holstein, however, could prove more of a harbinger for the CDU's ambition to cling to power in Berlin.

mz/tj (DPA, AFP)