Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives lost power in their German heartland after nearly six decades, initial poll results showed Sunday, with the Greens likely to lead their first state government.
Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have ruled Baden-Wuerttemberg since 1953, but anger over her nuclear policy in light of the Japan crisis as well as decisions on Libya and the euro drove away voters in the run-up to the poll.
The anti-nuclear Greens claimed about 24 percent of the vote -- about 12 point higher than five years ago -- and were likely to form a coalition with the Social Democrats, who garnered about 23 percent in the rich state.
The online service of newsweekly Der Spiegel called the outcome for the two parties, based on preliminary results released on public television, a "sensation".
They edged out Merkel's party and their junior partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), who look set to claim a dismal 44 percent between them.
Green party Candidate Winfried Kretschmann, who could become the party's first state leader in Germany, called it a "historic victory".
"It's a dream come true... we could never have dreamed of a result like this a few days ago," added Franz Untersteller, a Greens spokesman.
The result in the state bordering France and Switzerland marked a debacle for Merkel, 56, after drubbings in North Rhine-Westphalia in May and Hamburg in February, with three more state polls to come this year.
Meanwhile, in a further triumph for the Greens, strong gains in another election in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate appeared to force the Social Democrats to cede their absolute majority and join them in a coalition.
The pro-business FDP appeared to have failed to clear the five-percent hurdle for representation in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The outcome will increase the pressure on the already embattled Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the FDP leader, although analysts said Merkel's coalition was expected to survive.
But beyond a crushing blow to morale in Berlin, a defeat will make it even harder for Merkel to pass legislation in the Bundesrat upper house and likely prompt fresh calls for her to shore up her rightist credentials.
Campaigning in the state was dominated by the nuclear catastrophe in Japan, where officials Sunday discovered high radiation levels in water leaked from a stricken reactor at the Fukushima plant.
Calling Japan's crisis a "turning point", Merkel suspended for three months an earlier decision to extend the lifetime of Germany's nuclear reactors, four of which are based in Baden-Wuerttemberg.
She also temporarily shut off the country's seven oldest reactors pending a safety review.
Nuclear power is unpopular in Germany, but polls indicated that voters saw Merkel's zigzagging as an electoral ploy: it has cost her support while boosting the Greens.
Forty-five percent of voters in Baden-Wuerttemberg said nuclear power played a role in their decision, and Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel declared: "Today the final decision on the end of nuclear power in Germany was made."
Adding to the pressure, tens of thousands of Germans hit the streets Saturday in four major cities to protest the government's nuclear policy. Organisers said as many as 250,000 took part.
In addition to the nuclear climb-down, conservatives have frowned on Berlin's abstention from a UN Security Council vote to create a no-fly zone in Libya, in a historic break with Western allies.
Critics saw the move as another sign of pandering, this time to a strong pacifist streak in the German electorate.
Finally, the media savaged Merkel for agreeing at an EU summit Thursday to commit to a giant new eurozone rescue fund.
Some 10.8 million people were called to vote in the two states
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110327/wl_afp/germanyvote_20110327175253
Topic: CDU party in German state poll disaster (Read 1677 times)