The German Green party’s efforts to seize the chancellorship got a major boost Sunday after Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union suffered a rout in regional elections. With Merkel due to step aside after September’s national vote, her party slumped to its worst results ever in two regional ballots on Sunday, as voters vented their frustration over the government’s handling of the pandemic and the slow pace of vaccinations.
Green party co-leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck in Berlin on March 14.
Photographer: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/Getty Images
The two elections, held under strict hygiene and distancing rules, gave voters a first opportunity to express their discontent at the ballot box over missteps in Merkel’s pandemic strategy. And the results suggest that the CDU’s new leader, Armin Laschet, has a major problem: although the conservative bloc is still the strongest force nationally, support is dwindling and the Greens have the wind at their backs.
Paul Ziemiak, CDU general secretary, tried to ease pressure on the party’s leader by saying the results were personal victories of the respective state premiers and unrelated to national issues. Still, he said the party needs to do better.