Bavarian voters look to punish Merkel’s allies in state election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative allies lost their absolute majority in Bavaria’s state parliament by a wide margin yesterday, according to projections from a regional election that could cause more turbulence in the national government.

The Christian Social Union was on course to take just over 35 per cent of the vote, down from 47.7 per cent five years ago, projections for ARD and ZDF public television based on exit polls and a partial vote count indicated.

That would be the socially conservative party’s worst performance in Bavaria, which it has traditionally dominated, since 1950.

Squabbling in Merkel’s national government and a power struggle at home have weighed in recent months on the CSU.

There were gains for parties to its left and right. The Greens were expected to win up to 19 per cent to secure second place, more than double their support in 2013.

And the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AFD, was set to enter the state legislature with around 11 per cent of the vote.

The centre-left Social Democrats, Merkel’s other coalition partner in Berlin, were on course for a disastrous result of 10 per cent or less, half of what the party received in 2013 and its worst in the state sincethe Second World War.

The CSU has held an absolute majority in the Bavarian parliament for all but five of the past 56 years and governed the prosperous southeastern state for 61 years.

Needing coalition partners to govern would in itself be a major setback for the party, which only exists in Bavaria and has long leveraged its strength there to punch above its weight in national politics.

The state’s governor, Markus Soeder, told supporters in Munich that the party accepted the “painful” result “with humility”.

But he stressed that the CSU still emerged Sunday as the state’s strongest party and a mandate to form the next Bavarian government.

He said his preference was for a centre-right coalition – which would see the CSU partner with the Free Voters, a local center-right party that was seen winning 11.5 percent, and possibly also the Free Democrats, who may or may not secure the 5 per cent needed to win state parliament seats.

The Greens, traditionally bitter opponents, with a more liberal approach to migration and an emphasis on environmental issues, are another possibility.

Bavaria is home to some 13 million of Germany’s 82 million people. 0 Supporters of the German Green Party react to initial results that give the party 18.5% of the vote in Bavarian state elections