Merkel's conservative party does well in German local vote

The Forsa poll, conducted for Stern magazine and broadcaster RTL before Sunday's regional election, showed support for the CDU unchanged at 36 percent, while the Social Democrats (SPD), now the junior partner in Merkel's "grand coalition", gained one percentage point to 29 percent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), which is allied with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has achieved an important victory in the elections in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, a poll seen as a test ahead of Germany's parliamentary elections in September.

The Green party won 13.3 percent of the votes, Liberal free democrats won 11.5 percent of the votes and the German right-wing party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) won just 5.6 percent of the votes.

Chancellor Angela Merkel enters the election presiding over a Grand Coalition, a form of government she has run in two of her three terms.

"This a bitter result for us", Barley said, but downplayed the idea that this could hurt the momentum of the party ahead of another round of regional elections next week - in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, an SPD stronghold.

However, the FDP's fortunes have sharply declined since their previous spell in government (under Merkel's stewardship, 2009 - 2013) - the party polls at around 6.5 percent nationally, and the buzzy twosome enters the election not governing a single state together.

Once it does, the anti-immigrant party will sit in 12 of Germany's 16 state parliaments.

The INSA poll put the Greens, the SPD's preferred partner, on 7 percent, level with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), and the radical Left party at 10 percent.

The results are indicative of the dimming of the so-called "Schulz-Effect" - the spike in the polls after former European Parliament President Martin Schulz (SPD) announced his candidacy for Chancellor of Germany against Merkel.

Her steady handling of an awkward first meeting with President Trump at the White House in March and the improvement in their relationship also helped lift Merkel's standing, political scientists said.

The outcome in Schleswig-Holstein "confirms a nationwide trend that is giving wings to the Christian Democrats across the country that numerous Merkel critics within the Christian Democrats had considered impossible", the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said.

"This is really something that gets under the skin and makes us unhappy", he said.

However, with the rate of new arrivals slowing, the CDU is expected to perform strongly in September's federal elections.

"It's clear to me that we need a change in government in Schleswig-Holstein".

On Sunday in Schleswig-Holstein, the SPD suffered an even bigger blow as it failed to defend incumbent State Premier Torsten Albig, who had governed since 2012.