STATE WIN IN SAXONY GIVES MERKEL’S PARTY A BOOST FOR NAT’L POLLS

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives scored a better-than-forecast win in a key state election on Sunday, helping to set the stage for the national ballot in about three months, Andrew McCathie reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) under Premier Reiner Haseloff in the small eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt secured 37.1 percent of the vote, representing an increase of over 7 percent since the last election in 2016, according to preliminary results.

The CDU's win in Saxony-Anhalt represents a boost to Armin Laschet, who has struggled to gain political momentum since he was selected in April to head up the party's September national election campaign as its chancellor candidate.

Haseloff joined national CDU party leaders claiming the CDU's win on Sunday as a good omen for the national election in three months.

"Of course, this also gives us a tailwind for Berlin," Ralph Brinkhaus, a CDU parliamentary leader, told German public television ARD.

The September election will also mark the beginning of the post-Merkel era, with the German leader exiting the political stage following the election after 16 years in power.

Still, only 12 percent of voters said Laschet's candidacy made a difference in the election, according to the exit polls. After a neck-and-neck election campaign with the CDU, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will remain the second-biggest bloc in the new state parliament after the AfD's vote slipped to 20.8 percent following a swing against the party of over 3 percent.

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