Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats are facing the prospect of finishing second in key regional elections in south-western Germany after projections showed the ruling Greens in a narrow lead in the industrial state of Baden-Württemberg.
Merz had hoped to reclaim the 11mn-strong state — an export powerhouse home to companies such as Porsche, Mercedes, Bosch and SAP — in a major electoral test a year after taking office as chancellor and ahead of more challenging regional elections later this year.
But projections based on actual votes from two polling groups on Sunday suggested that the Greens, which have led coalition governments in Baden-Württemberg since 2011, had narrowly secured the largest share of the vote with 30.3 per cent. The party won 32.6 per cent of votes in the 2021 state election, but only 11.6 per cent in last year’s federal elections.