Merkel's CDU is the first force but with less support – Telam

The conservative party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel won Sunday as the first force in the elections of the Confederate state of Hesse, but her support has fallen to the point of undermining her ability to govern as she since 1999, according to the statement. exit polls published by public television.

According to these first figures, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in power would have won 28% of the vote, followed closely by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 20% and Los Verdes with 19.5%.

Fourth place was occupied by the country's main right-wing force, Alternativa para Alemania (AfD), with 12%.

The fifth and sixth positions correspond to the FDP liberals with 7.5% and left with 6.5%, as reproduced by the DPA news agency.

If these results are confirmed, the right AfD – the same as a year ago became the third seat of the federal Parliament – managed to enter the only room out of the 16 regional chambers that were missing and maintain their upward trend , fueled mainly by anti-migrant sentiment that triggered the entry into the country of more than one million refugees and migrants in 2015.

In Hesse, barely 7.5% of the German population lives; However, this Confederate state includes the financial heart of the country, the city of Frankfurt.

The outgoing government of the eastern state was led by a coalition between conservatives of the CDU and Los Verdes. In 2013, the CDU won 38.8% of the vote and Los Verdes 11.1%.

If exit poll results are confirmed, a series of possible new alliances will be opened.

The big winners of the day are the Greens who are on the verge of becoming the second regional force, while the main losers are – according to the last regional elections – the traditional parties – the CDU and the SPD – which continue to lose support.

In addition to losing the electoral ground, these results would aggravate the internal tensions within the federal government coalition maintained by the two forces of traditional German bipartisanship, an alliance born out of the need to prevent the extreme right of play the role of leader of the opposition. in parliament.