Merkel's coalition partner loses majority in Bavarian election, preliminary result suggests

Christian Social Union loses support while Greens and far-right AfD increase share of vote

Angela Merkel’s conservative allies have lost their absolute majority in regional elections in the German state of Bavaria, according to preliminary results.

The Christian Social Union (CSU) is set to suffer its worst result since 1950 with around 38 per cent of the vote, down from 47.7 per cent five years ago.

Support for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which is a junior member of Ms Merkel’s coalition in federal government, also slumped from 20.6 per cent to under 10 per cent in the region.

It left the Greens as the second-largest party with 18 per cent and the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) on course to enter the state legislature for the first time with around 11 per cent.

The Free Voters, a protest party which is seen as the CSU’s most likely coalition par​tner, won more than 12 per cent of the vote.

The provisional results, based on vote counts in most of the 91 constituencies, were described as a “political earthquake” by one expert.

“The aftershocks will be felt in Berlin ... Talk will increase ever more about the end of the Merkel era,” said Fred Kempe, president of the Washington-based Atlantic Council thinktank.

SPD leader Andrea Nahles blamed her party’s loss of support on the “poor performance” of the federal government in Berlin, although she did not name Ms Merkel.

“It’s clear that something has to change,” she said.

Turnout increased from 64 per cent to more than 72 per cent.

The CSU had been predicted to suffer heavy losses in the election, with analysts suggesting the result could pile further pressure on Chancellor Merkel, the leader of the centre-right CDU.

Before the vote in Bavaria, Merkel had urged her CSU and CDU allies to end their infighting.

CSU leader, interior minister Horst Seehofer, has repeatedly clashed with Ms Merkel over immigration policy since 2015.

Divisions between the two parties had widened further since an inconclusive national election forced them into a coalition with the SPD in March.

The CDU is also expected to lose votes in a regional election in the western state of Hesse, home to the financial centre of Frankfurt, on 28 October.

Ms Merkel is then due to seek re-election as CDU party chairwoman in December.

The CSU has held an absolute majority in the Bavarian parliament for all but five of the past 56 years and has governed the prosperous southeastern state for 61 years.

“This is a bitter day for the Christian Social Union,” the party’s general secretary Markus Blume said.

Bavarian minister president Markus Soeder said that the CSU wanted to form a stable government as soon as possible.

“Of course today is not an easy day for the CSU,” he told a gathering of his party. “We did not achieve a good result. We accept the result with humility.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press