A German government that does not include Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party after September’s general election appears more likely after two defeats in key regional votes.
And a mooted contender to succeed Mrs Merkel, who is not seeking a fifth term as Chancellor in the autumn, has said the centre-right needs to raise its game to keep the country’s top job.
Final results showed that Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was defeated in Sunday’s elections by two popular incumbent state governors. The Greens’ Winfried Kretschmann won in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the centre-left Social Democrats’ Malu Dreyer was victorious in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Chancellor Angela Merkel s party is considering how to respond to historically bad state election results that a senior member described as a wake-up call, six months before a national vote that will determine who succeeds Germany s long-time leader. Final results early Monday confirmed that Merkel s center-right Christian Democratic Union was handily defeated in Sunday s elections by two popular incumbent state governors: the Green party s Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the center-left Social Democrats Malu Dreyer in Rhineland-Palatinate. While the CDU always faced an uphill battle against the pair, the results were painful. It lost the two states both of which were once strongholds, but have long since slipped from its grasp by about eight percentage points. It won 24.1% of the vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg and 27.7 per cent in Rhineland-Palatinate, its worst showings there since World War II.
Angela Merkel s party shaken by defeats in two German state elections theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Merkel s party faces German election wake-up call
Geir Moulson
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Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union, CDU, addresses the media during a press conference at the party s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, March 15, 2021 the day after the regional elections in the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Chancellor Angela Merkel s party CDU is considering how to respond to historically bad state election results six months before a national vote that will determine who succeeds Germany s long-time leader. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)
BERLIN – Two German state election defeats have jolted Chancellor Angela Merkel s bloc, shining a spotlight on chances of it being ejected from the government in September s national vote. A possible contender to succeed Merkel said Monday that the center-right needs to raise its game to keep the country s top job.