Merkel loses another battle in German power struggle

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives looked set to lose power in a major regional stronghold yesterday after governing there for almost 60 years.

In Baden-Württemberg, where anti-nuclear sentiment has been mobilised by Japan’s nuclear crisis, early election results suggested the Greens and Social Democrats (SPD) were set to win 48.3%, eclipsing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Merkel’s CDU and their Free Democrat Party (FDP) coalition partners, big backers of nuclear power, won a combined 43.2%, according to the first projections after polls closed at 4pm.