State voters inflict heavy defeat on Merkel’s party

Voters in Germany’s most populous state strengthened a centre-left regional government which chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives sought to portray as irresponsibly spendthrift, and inflicted an embarrassingly heavy defeat on the German leader’s party, projections showed.

The centre-left Social Democrats and Greens — Germany’s main opposition parties — won combined support of about 51% in the election in North Rhine-Westphalia state, according to exit polls.

That would be enough to give them a majority in the state legislature, which they narrowly missed in the last regional election two years ago. Support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats was seen dropping to 26% from more than 34%, their worst showing in the state since the Second World War.