Merkel party in German state poll disaster

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives lost power in their German heartland after nearly six decades, initial poll results showed yesterday, with the Greens likely to lead their first state government.

Ms Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have ruled Baden-Wuerttemberg since 1953, but anger over her nuclear policy in light of the Japan crisis as well as decisions on Libya and the euro drove away voters in the run-up to the poll.

The anti-nuclear Greens claimed about 24 per cent of the vote – about 12 point higher than five years ago – and were likely to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, who garnered about 23 per cent in the rich state.

The online service of newsweekly Der Spiegel called the outcome for the two parties, based on preliminary results released on public television, a “sensation”.

They edged out Ms Merkel’s party and their junior partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), who look set to claim a dismal 44 per cent between them.

Green party Candidate Winfried Kretschmann, who could become the party’s first state leader in Germany, called it a “historic victory”.

“It’s a dream come true... we could never have dreamed of a result like this a few days ago,” added Franz Untersteller, a Greens spokesman.

The result in the state bordering France and Switzerland marked a debacle for Ms Merkel, 56, after drubbings in North Rhine-Westphalia in May and Hamburg in February, with three more state polls to come this year.

Meanwhile, in a further triumph for the Greens, strong gains in another election in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate appeared to force the Social Democrats to cede their absolute majority and join them in a coalition.

The pro-business FDP appeared to have failed to clear the five per cent hurdle for representation in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The outcome will increase the pressure on the already embattled Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the FDP leader, although analysts said Merkel’s coalition was expected to survive.

But beyond a crushing blow to morale in Berlin, a defeat will make it even harder for Ms Merkel to pass legislation in the Bundesrat upper house and likely prompt fresh calls for her to shore up her rightist credentials.

Campaigning in the state was dominated by the nuclear catastrophe in Japan, where officials Sunday discovered high radiation levels in water leaked from a stricken reactor at the Fukushima plant.

Calling Japan’s crisis a “turning point”, Ms Merkel suspended for three months an earlier decision to extend the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear reactors, four of which are based in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

She also temporarily shut off the country’s seven oldest reactors pending a safety review.