Bavarians give Merkel mixed results as national vote looms
WITH only a week until Germany’s federal election, a regional vote in Bavaria saw better results than expected for the country’s main opposition party.
The Christian Social Union (CSU), part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, stormed to an expected victory with around half of the vote. But the region’s social democrats performed better than expected, raking in 21 per cent of voters. The last poll of Bavarians had projected an 18 per cent share.
Berenberg’s Holger Schmieding commented: “Chances that Merkel can stay on as chancellor are around 90 per cent in our view.”
However, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Merkel’s preferred coalition partners, failed to win any seats in the state parliament. A failure to gain representation nationally would force Merkel to look elsewhere for a coalition.
Schmieding added: “Alerted to the risk that the FDP may not make it into the national parliament, some Merkel supporters may cast a tactical vote for the FDP next Sunday, a common practice within Germany’s centre-right.”