Merkel allies lose big in largest German state
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative allies have failed worst in state elections in Bavaria for the first time since 1950.
The Christian Social Union (CSU) party, an ally of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, won no more than 37 percent of the vote after the results came in on Sunday.
The returns also meant that the CSU had lost its majority and would have to forge a coalition with another party.
The Greens finished second with 17.9 percent.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD), coalition partner of the federal government, also faced a difficult loss with only 9.6 percent of the votes, receiving less support than the far-right anti-immigration AfD party, which brought in a total of 10.6 percent of the ballots.
Speaking after exit polls foreshadowed the results, Minister President Markus Soeder said, "Of course, today is no easy day for the CSU. We didn't get a good result, partly we got a painful result, even if we have to wait for the election evening.”
“We accept the result, we do so with humbleness," he added.
The results in the sprawling state, whose area almost entirely covers half of the country’s south, pose the threat of instability to the government.
The CDU now has its eyes on the state of Hesse, where state elections are scheduled to get underway later this month.
"It is a warning for us, for CDU Germany. That's why in the upcoming weeks our priority will be devoted to the state elections in Hessen," the party’s Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said during a press conference in Berlin.
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