Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won local elections held yesterday in the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony, an exit poll showed, DPA reported, BTA reported.
The good news for Merz comes just a week after he suffered a heavy blow in regional elections in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party achieved historic success.
According to the survey conducted by the Infratest Dimap institute and announced by public broadcaster NDR, the CDU won Lower Saxony with 27.7% of the vote. The smaller partner in the federal governing coalition, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), remains in second place with 24.5%.
The AfD is third. However, its result of 16.5% is significantly higher than that of the previous local elections in the province - in 2021, when the anti-immigrant party received only 4.6% of the vote, DPA notes.
Possible local run-offs in Lower Saxony will be held on September 27. It is certain that there will be a second round in the regional capital Hanover between the current Green mayor Belit Onay and his SPD rival Axel von der Oe.
Next Sunday - September 20, regional elections are due in two eastern German states - Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Opinion polls show the CDU performing poorly. The situation looks particularly worrying in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where support for the party has fallen to 7%, DPA notes.
Source: www.bta.bg