14 Mar 2021
BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “centre-right” party was headed for clear defeats in two German state elections on Sunday at the hands of popular governors from parties further to the left, projections showed — 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 Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate kicked off an electoral marathon that culminates in the national election on Sept. 26. The national vote will determine who succeeds Merkel.
Amid discontent over a sluggish start to Germany’s vaccination drive, with coronavirus restrictions easing only gradually 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.