A flag of Germany's Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, waves in the wind on top of the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, March 14, 2021.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right 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.
Sunday’s votes for new state legislatures in the southwestern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate kicked off an electoral marathon which features another four state ballots and the Sept. 26 national election.
AdThe Greens' success bolstered their confidence for the national election campaign, in which the traditionally left-leaning party is expected to make its first bid for the chancellery.
It still leads national polls by a distance from the Greens and Social Democrats — the latter the junior partner in Merkel's coalition government — but this year has started badly.