Greens stun Merkel in election coup

Germany’s anti-nuclear Greens scored a remarkable victory over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party in a state election that turned into a referendum on nuclear power in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster.

The Greens doubled their voter share in wealthy Baden-Wurttemberg state and seemed poised to oust Ms Merkel’s Christian Democrats who held power there for almost six decades, according to preliminary results released by the state electoral commission.