Germany’s conservatives lead in first exit poll in Schleswig-Holstein state

BERLIN (Reuters) – Former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives (CDU) looked set to make a clear win a regional election in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, in a boost to the party which was ousted from national government in federal elections last year.

An exit poll by ARD Tagesschau put the CDU at 43% of the vote, up 11 percentage points compared to the last vote, while the Social Democrats slumped to 15.5%.

The environmental Greens and the pro-business FDP parties, who have been in a coalition with the conservatives since 2017 scored 17% and 7% respectively.

The South Schleswig Party (SSW), which represents the ethnic Danish minority, won 6% of the votes while both the far-right AfD and far-left Linke parties did not reach the 5% of votes necessary to secure seats in the state’s parliament.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Maria Sheahan)