Angela Merkel’s CSU allies lose majority in Bavarian ballot

Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU) party, a key ally of chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat Union (CDU), has lost its majority in the Bavarian state parliament following an election yesterday.

The CSU received only 37.2% of the vote, with minor parties winning a “huge boost”, according to CNN. The result – 10 percentage points lower than five years ago – is a huge blow to the CSU, which has governed the region almost single-handedly since 1957.

CSU party leader Horst Seehofer (pictured above) said it was “not a nice day”, but maintained the result still gives the CSU a mandate to form a government, despite a tumble at the ballot box.

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The pro-immigration and environment Greens party came in second on the ballot, taking 17.5% of the vote, while the anti-immigration far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party took 10.2% of the vote, giving it seats in the Bavarian parliament for the first time.

Merkel’s other “grand coalition” ally, the centre-left Social Democrats, were on course for a disastrous result of less than 10%, half of the number of votes it gathered in 2013.

The Washington Post reports that “constant squabbling in Merkel’s national government” and an internal power struggle within the CSU had hurt the party’s chances at this election.

The CSU had also taken a harder line on the hot-button issue of immigration, which has dominated the region since the refugee crisis in 2015, which saw thousands of migrants entering Germany.