A nuclear KO? Big blow for Merkel party in state polls

BERLIN: German chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have suffered a historic defeat in a state ballot after almost six decades in power there, preliminary results have showed, in an election that amounted to a referendum on the party’s stance on nuclear power.
The opposition anti-nuclear Greens doubled their voter share in Baden-Wuerttemberg and seemed poised to win their first-ever state governorship, according to preliminary results released by the state electoral commission.Representatives of all parties said that the elections were overshadowed by Japan’s nuclear crisis, turning them into a popular vote on the country’s future use of nuclear power which a majority of Germans oppose.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said her party’s defeat in Baden-Wuerttemberg after 58 straight years of rule was painful and would take a long time to overcome.