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Angela Merkel's CDU 'seizes key state from rivals' | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats party (CDU) has unseated rivals Social Democrats (SPD) in a key election, exit polls say. | |
The CDU is projected to win 34.5% of votes in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country's most populous state, compared with 30.5% for the SPD. | |
The SPD has run the state for most of the post-war period. | |
The vote was seen as a test for Mrs Merkel, who faces a general election in September. | |
Voters were choosing candidates for the state legislature, which may now change from its current SPD-Greens coalition. | |
The SPD's vote is down by 8.6 percentage points on the last election there in 2012, while Mrs Merkel's vote is up by almost the same amount. | |
SPD leader Martin Schulz had predicted a victory there would make him the next German chancellor - but the victory for Mrs Merkel's party will now give her a boost as she seeks a fourth term. | |
The first exit polls also predict 12% for the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP); 6% for the Greens; 7.5% for the far right Alternative for Germany (AFD); and 5% for The Left. | |
German newspaper Die Welt said the red-green coalition currently in power "has clearly lost their majority". | |
The result could also mean the worst election result for the SPD since 1947, the newspaper said. | |
Polls before the vote had suggested the CDU and SDP were neck-and-neck. | |
But the CDU's campaign - which targeted voters' frustration on issues such as traffic congestion, rising crime and education - appears to have swayed voters. | |
Mrs Merkel's party also promised to beef up security, with longer prison terms for offenders and more funds for the police. |