German state vote triumph gives boost to Merkel’s bloc
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right bloc claimed momentum Monday for the September election that will choose Germany’s next leader after a larger-than-expected win in the last regional ballot before the nation votes. But the victory in a sparsely populated eastern state where it faced a challenge from the far right was mostly a triumph for the popular state governor.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union won Sunday’s election in Saxony-Anhalt with 37.1% of the vote, far ahead of the farright Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with 20.8%. Pre-election polls had pointed to a much narrower outcome.
Elections in Germany’s 16 states are often influenced by local issues yet are also seen as important bellwethers for the national mood. The success in Saxony-Anhalt, which has 2.2 million people, gives CDU leader Armin Laschet — the party’s candidate to succeed four-term chancellor Merkel in the national vote — a reason to celebrate after a bumpy start that included two defeats in state votes in March.
“Of course this gives the federal party tailwind,” Laschet told reporters after a meeting of CDU leaders. “It shows that it isn’t moods and polls that decide elections, but voters.”
Sunday’s results were disappointing for the other two parties competing for the chancellery in the Sept. 26 national election. The center-left Social Democrats took 8.4% of the vote, dropping into single digits for the first time in Saxony-Anhalt. The environmentalist Greens scored 5.9%, making only minimal gains despite their current strong showing in national polls.
Both pointed to the role played by Saxony-Anhalt’s popular governor, Reiner Haseloff, who appeared to have won over centrist voters worried about a possible AfD win. Laschet acknowledged that Haseloff “and no one else” won the election.