Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left coalition suffered heavy defeats in Sunday’s election in two German states, Bavaria (south) and Hesse (west), where the opposition conservatives are on the brink of victory, according to exit-to data reported by polling stations. This is reported by ARD TV channel, AFP and Reuters agencies and Agerpress.

Olaf ScholzPhoto: Bernd Von Jutrczenka / AFP / Profimedia Images
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In Hesse, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) won 35.5% of the vote compared to 16% for Scholz’s Social Democrats, dealing a personal blow to Interior Minister Nancy Feiser, who was running as the SPD’s main candidate in that country.

In Bavaria, the CDU’s sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), won 37% of the vote – its worst result since 1950, though likely enough to continue its coalition with the populist Free Voters party, which has 14%. The SPD, traditionally weak in Bavaria, won 8.5% of the vote.

Scholz’s two minority coalition partners, the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP), fared worse than in the 2018 elections in the two states, with the FDP on the brink of exiting the Bavarian parliament.

Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party surged to 16% in Hesse and 15% in Bavaria, up from 13.1% and 11.6% respectively in 2018.

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