Angela Merkel's conservative party wins last state vote by big margin: Exit poll

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative scored a convincing win in the last regional test before national polls in September, an exit poll suggested on June 6. According to BBC, Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) won 36 per cent of the vote in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, a former of East Germany. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), on the other hand, took 22.5 per cent after nearly equalling the CDU in the opinion polls. 

The CDU has dominated Saxony-Anhalt since reunification in 1990 and its current Premier Reiner Haseloff looks set to return to power at the head of a coalition. Even if the anti-immigrant AfD had won the largest share of the vote, it would not have been able to govern as the smaller parties had ruled out any deal involving the AfD party. According to the exit polls, Die Linke, which is rooted in the old East German state Communist party, came third with 11 per cent. The SPD won 8.5 per cent, the Greens won 6.5 per cent and the Liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 6.5 per cent. 

Greens set to challenge Merkel’s party in Sept

Meanwhile, Angela Merkel has dominated German politics as chancellor since 2005, leading an uneasy coalition with the CDU’s old leftwing political foe, the Social Democrats (SDP), after the last election in 2017. A centrist figure, Armin Laschet, was picked to succeed her as the CDU's leader in the September election. Now, when Germany elects a new federal parliament on September 26, the results could be as ground-breaking as they were in 2017, as the Greens are set to challenge the centre-right for the biggest share of the vote. 

It is worth noting that up to 2017, German governments had alternated between coalitions led by either the CDU/CSU or the SPD, with the FDP or the Greens the junior partner. However, the SPD’s claim to be a party of government has been steadily eroded just as the fortunes of the Greens rise. As per a national opinion poll, The CDU and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, will win 25 per cent, Greens will surge from just under 9 per cent to 23 per cent, the SPD will shrink from just over to 20 per cent to 15 per cent, the FDP will continue to come back from 10.7 per cent to 13 per cent and the AfD will fall back slightly from 12.6 per cent to 11 per cent. 

(Image: AP)