Angela Merkels Party Appears Headed for Big Victory in Key German State Election.

[elleng]

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party appeared poised for a startling victory on Sunday in elections in Germany’s most populous state, exit polls showed, a positive sign for Ms. Merkel in a race widely seen as a dress rehearsal for national elections in September, when she will seek a fourth term.

Cheers erupted at the state headquarters of Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats when polls and projections from early results indicated that the party would receive 34.5 percent of the ballots cast in North Rhine-Westphalia, home to 18 million people and one in five German voters.

In a signal that could make or break Martin Schulz, Ms. Merkel’s Social Democratic challenger, the polls suggested that the center-left party had won only 30.5 percent of the vote in its traditional stronghold.

Mr. Schulz, reacting to the results, said that “for me personally, it is a tough day,” but that he and his party would now focus on winning the national elections in September.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/world/europe/german-elections-angela-merkel-martin-schulz.html?

[shenmue]

1. Fingers crossed

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Overall, it looks like a swing to the right

centre-right CDU up; centre-left SPD down. Free-market liberal FDP up; Greens down. Left Party up, but not enough to get a seat; far-right AfD came 4th, getting more than the Greens. The Pirates lost all their seats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia_state_election,_2017

I suppose the good news is that the AfD won't be in any coalition. The 100 seats needed for a majority can be CDU and FDP.