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BERLIN – Voters in one of the most prosperous states in Germany again on Sunday punished Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in an election that was seen as an additional barometer of her position with the German public. .
The apparently lukewarm, and certainly shrinking, verdict in Hesse State, as well as the support for the Chancellor's party, was in line with the trend observed in Germany in recent years.
Merkel's Christian Democrats emerged as poll leaders and needed to be selected to form a new government in the country, but this was hardly surprising. They dominated politics in the state of Hesse for nearly two decades, sometimes marginally.
But in Sunday's polls, the conservatives should win only 27% of the vote, more than 10 points lower than in previous elections in 2013.
Their coalition partner in the national government, the Social Democrats, is also expected to lose about 10 points from its previous total and collect about 20 percent of the vote.
With Sunday's results, the anti-immigrant AFD easily crossed the threshold to enter the regional legislature for the first time, which now gives it representation in the 16 parliaments of the states of Germany.
If the projections for Hesse remain constant, the coalition of Christian Democrats and Greens that ruled for five years would remain in power. But given the extremely tight race, it was not clear that they would have enough seats to keep their government going for the last five years.
With the entry of the AfD and the left of the far left, six parties have obtained representation in the legislature, which means that the shape of the next government could depend on the majority of the time. one or two seats.
The candidates from Hesse had tried to focus on local issues such as education, transport and infrastructure. But the voters appeared from the outset focused on the whole debate, seeking to punish the Christian-centrist-chancellors and their government partners, the center-left social democrats, for the internal conflicts that had plagued them ever since. their accession to power in March.
While Merkel's party has managed to make itself heard, the result of Sunday's vote will increase pressure on her six weeks before a party congress in which, she said, she will run for president. it has occupied since April 2000.
Until now, no serious candidate has emerged to challenge her. But last month, one of his closest allies was defeated at the head of the conservative bloc's parliamentary group by a little-known challenger, again signaling the weakening of Merkel's support within his own party.
The Chancellor's conservatives expressed dismay at the outcome in Hesse, but they promised to redouble their importance to govern, hoping to regain confidence and restructure the party. The Conservatives found that their support at the national level has eroded to about 27%, compared to more than 35% at the time of Merkel's election to his first term in 2005.
"Where there are losses, there must be consequences," said Helge Braun, Merkel's chief of staff, to the public broadcaster ARD, without giving further details.
Annegret Kamp-Karrenbauer, Secretary General of the Conservative Party, said: "Of course, we, the Christian Democrats, are not happy. We need a new working culture within the ruling coalition and a regeneration of Christian Democrats. "
Its coalition partners at the national level, the Social Democrats, I never felt comfortable in the government. They believe they have suffered for joining the Conservatives and have only done so after much anguish. On Sunday, their leader, Andrea Nahles, blamed the loss of his party on the Berlin coalition.
"The state of the government coalition is not acceptable," Ms. Nahles told her party after the announcement of the results. She said that the Social Democrats would set a "road map" for the coming year, until the mid-term review that her party insists insists on in the context of the agreement to join the government of Ms Merkel.
