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Merkel’s Party wins German state election, blunting projected opposition surge

Saarland governor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer of the Christian Democratic party is congratulated after the election in the German state of Saarland in Saarbruecken, Sunday, March 26, 2017. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party has emerged easily as the strongest party from an election in Germany's western Saarland state an unexpectedly strong performance and a disappointment for her center-left rivals. (Boris Roessler / AP)

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party won a state election as the main opposition party fell short of polls forecasting a surge, according to exit polls, potentially denting her Social Democrat challenger’s momentum six months before of the national election.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union was projected to win 41 percent of the vote Sunday in the western state of Saarland, more than 11 percentage points ahead of the Social Democrats at 29.5 percent, according to exit polls reported by broadcaster ARD. Pre-election polls had shown a tighter race after Martin Schulz, a former European Parliament president, emerged in January as the Social Democrat challenger.

The anti-capitalist Left Party was projected at 13 percent. The Greens won 4.5 percent, which would be below the 5 percent threshold to win seats in the state assembly. That appears to put a SPD-led left-wing government in the state out of reach.

Significantly for Merkel, Saarland’s CDU-led government with the SPD as junior partner mirrors the “grand coalition” of the two biggest parties on the national level. The result means that CDU state prime minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, whose party has led the state for 18 years, will seek to extend her coalition with the SPD as junior partner.

While Saarland is the nation’s second-smallest state with just short of 1 million people, the CDU’s vote total – an increase of almost 6 points over the region’s last election in 2012 – suggests a reprieve for Merkel as she seeks a fourth term.