Historic defeat for Merkel's party
German chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party has suffered a defeat in a state election after almost six decades in power there, according to an exit poll.
The exit poll published today by public broadcaster ARD in Baden-Wuerttemberg state also says the opposition anti-nuclear Greens could win their first-ever governorship.
The poll puts the Greens at 25% and the centre-left Social Democrats at 23.5%, securing them a majority to form a coalition government in the state.
The poll said Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats secured 38% of the vote and its coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats, just about 5%.
Mrs Merkel’s party has held power in the region around Stuttgart, home to some 11 million people, since 1953.
Also voting today was Rhineland-Palatinate state, where a separate ARD exit poll saw the Social Democrats remaining in power but forced to form a coalition government with the Greens.
Governor Kurt Beck’s Social Democrats fell 10 percentage points to 35.5%, while the Greens appeared to have more than trebled their vote, with 17%, according to the exit poll. The Christian
Democrats are seen gaining 1.2% to 34%.
Official results are expected later tonight.
