Merkel’s party battered in first 2 state elections
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centerright party suffered clear defeats in two German state elections on Sunday at the hands of popular governors from parties further to the left, according to projections. The setback comes six months before a national vote that will determine who succeeds the country’s longtime leader.
Sunday’s votes for new state legislatures in the southwestern states of BadenWuerttemberg and RhinelandPalatinate kicked off an electoral marathon which features another four state ballots and the Sept. 26 national election.
Amid discontent over a sluggish start to Germany’s vaccination drive, with most coronavirus restrictions still in place and infections rising again, Merkel’s Union bloc has been hit over the past two weeks by allegations that two lawmakers profited from deals to procure masks early in the coronavirus pandemic.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union already faced a challenging task against wellliked governors. Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and a partial count of votes, showed those governors’ parties — the environmentalist Greens in BadenWuerttemberg and the centerleft Social Democrats in RhinelandPalatinate — finishing first, some 7 to 9 percentage points ahead of the CDU. The CDU’s projected showings of about 23% and 27%, respectively, were the party’s worst since World War II in both states.
Merkel isn’t seeking a fifth term after nearly 16 years in power.
In BadenWuerttemberg, Germany’s only Green party governor, Winfried Kretschmann, has become popular with centrist voters.
The centerleft Social Democrats have led RhinelandPalatinate for 30 years — currently under governor Malu Dreyer, whose personal popularity kept her party’s support above its dismal national ratings.