Merkel's party suffers losses in Hesse elections as right-wing AfD enters parliament - exit polls

The Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has gained seats in Hesse and now holds parliamentary seats in every single German state, according to exit polls. Meanwhile, Merkel's CDU has seen party support plummet.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered an electoral shock, winning only 28 percent. The results were quite a disappointment for the CDU candidate and Ministers-President of Hesse, Volker Bouffier, a Merkel man who has stuck with her through thick and thin.

The CDU result marks a huge drop from the 38.3 percent won by the party during Hesse's last election in 2013.

The AfD, meanwhile, gained 12 percent of the votes. The party's parliamentary leader, Alice Weidel, took to Twitter to celebrate its success.

"We are the People's Party!" she wrote, noting that the AfD is now "firmly anchored" in the German parliament and is "here to stay."

https://www.rt.com/news/442488-hesse-election-afd-merkel/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=push_notifications