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Germany holds pre-election polls Merkel faces state poll setbacks
(about 8 hours later)
Three German states are holding elections that will kick off the final month of campaigning ahead of a general election on 27 September. Initial results in the regional polls in Germany suggests a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel a month before the country's general election.
Party leaders in Berlin will be closely watching poll results in the states of Saarland, Thuringia and Saxony. Counting so far indicates her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) may lose control of two states - Saarland in the west and Thuringia in the east.
All three are ruled by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party. The CDU may hold on to control in Saxony, the partial results suggest.
Opinion polls suggest Saxony's governor Stanislaw Tillich looks set to be re-elected, but the CDU could see its vote crumble in Saarland and Thuringia. The vote is being closely watched for clues as to how the chancellor's party will perform nationally.
The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Left Party are hoping to topple the CDU in both states. 'Big mistake'
In a radical move, the Social Democrats' leader in Saarland, Heiko Maas, has been considering forming a coalition with the post-communist Left party as a junior partner. The CDU is still enjoying a 15-point opinion poll lead over the Social Democrats for the national election.
But at a national level, the SPD has ruled out a coalition with the Left Party - and the Social Democrats would prefer a coalition with the green party. In Saarland and Thuringia, the CDU vote is said to be 10 percentage points down on the last election, although how new coalition governments will be formed there may not be decided for a number of weeks.
Chancellor Merkel's conservatives still have a comfortable lead in the polls ahead of next month's federal election. CDU general secretary Ronald Pofalla has already expressed disappointment at the elections.
So far, the campaign has been very dull but the regional elections may liven up the political debate and provide some indication as to whether the Social Democrats will be able to claw back any votes from Mrs Merkel's CDU. But he said: "We remain the only people's party in Germany."
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, of the Social Democrats, was upbeat.
"Those who said that the [national] election was already decided have made a big mistake."
The general election will be held on 27 September.
The BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin says that so far the campaign has been very dull but the regional election results will be a significant psychological boost to the Social Democrats as they seek to claw back support.