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Projections show Merkel's party wins Schleswig-Holstein state election

Xinhua, May 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party on Sunday secured a victory in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, according to forecasts made by the local broadcaster ZDF.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Merkel, is expected to get the biggest share, around 33 to 34 percent of the votes, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) trails behind with around 26 to 27 percent.

The Green Party gets around 12.5 to 13.5, and the minority South Schleswig Voters' Association(SSW), which represents the minorities like Danish and Frisian, wins to 3 to 3.5 percent, ZDF reported.

The early results indicated that the former political coalition "red-green-blue", consisting of the SPD, the Greens and the SSW, might dissolve and the state government will fill in with more CDU faces.

The election was closely watched by German local media since it was seen as a prelude for the federal election in September.

The Sunday win might be another boost to Merkel's ruling political union, after the March 26 election in Saarland State, yet another major setback for SPD, whose leader Martin Schulz failed to transform his popularity into ballot tickets.

In the past several months, some opinion polls have showed Schulz will have the edge over his major competitor Merkel in the "federal election duel".

Some local media dubbed it "Shulz effect", and speculated Shulz might substitute Merkel since she lost momentum owing to the migrant crisis. Endit