15/10/2018 15:45
Merkel's Bavaria ally CSU suffers massive losses
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative sister party has suffered huge losses in Bavaria's state election, raising new doubts about her ruling coalition.
The centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) is set to lose its absolute majority in the state parliament, which it has dominated since 1957.
The Greens surged into second place, with nearly 17.5%.
The anti-immigration AfD is set to enter Bavaria's parliament for the first time, with most votes counted.
The CSU got just over 37% - that is, more than 10% down on its 2013 result.
It was also a bitter night for Germany's decades-old centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who slumped to just 9.7%. They and the CSU are in a fragile coalition with Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).
The CSU appears to have suffered from the row over immigration policy earlier this year between Mrs Merkel and Horst Seehofer, the CSU leader and German interior minister.
He said it was "not a nice day" but added it was only "one side of the coin" as the vote gives "a clear mandate" allowing the CSU to form a new government.