Anke Rehlinger refrained from any expression of triumph until Sunday evening, even when the polls increasingly predicted a clear victory for her SPD in the state elections in Saarland.

In the final spurt of the election campaign, Rehlinger was asked whether we would soon see her again as prime minister.

"Wait," she replied.

After 22 years, the Social Democrats are now replacing the CDU as the strongest force in the Saar.

Rehlinger managed to get into the state chancellery – at the second attempt after 2017. She led her party through an election campaign that was overshadowed by global political events like few before and in which it was enough for her to recycle Angela Merkel’s “You know me” – and her own to avoid mistakes.

Because her opponent, the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU), committed

Julian Staib

Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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In fact, the 45-year-old Rehlinger has been part of the state government for much longer than Hans;

she has been a member of the state parliament since 2004, she has been a minister since 2012, and Hans only became prime minister in 2018.

Rehlinger comes from a social democratic family, the father was SPD mayor.

When dealing with people, the mother of a son is more direct than Hans.

She is a “confessed country bumpkin”, Rehlinger once said of herself. The lawyer also holds the Saarland record in shot put, while Hans vom Habitus seems to suit the big city voters – but there are hardly any of them in Saarland.

His popularity ratings were drastically worse than Rehlinger's throughout the campaign.

Hope for a “decade of social democracy”

They are now hoping for a “decade of social democracy” in Saarland, as historical experience in the Saar speaks for: the CDU and SPD took turns as the strongest force here about every 20 years.

But these are unlikely to be easy years, as Rehlinger is faced with major challenges: the small country is once again facing difficult years economically, because the steel and automotive industry, which is so central to Saarland, is facing drastic change, of which it is unclear how much the structures will still exist afterwards.

In addition, the budget situation remains precarious.

This small country with its checkered history is already suffering economically.

If you ask Rehlinger whether it wouldn't be easier for the Saarland, for example in association with Rhineland-Palatinate, then she vehemently contradicts: There are a whole range of peculiarities that you can only take into account with your own voice, for example in the Bundesrat.

This voice will be hers from now on.