Merkel faces test as Germany votes in regional elections

Germans are voting in three regional elections seen as a test of support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy towards refugees. The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is expected to make gains amid unease over Mrs Merkel's so-called "open door" policy.

The vote could have wider consequences for Chancellor Merkel

More than a million migrants and refugees entered Germany in 2015. Asked on Saturday how she was preparing for Sunday's elections, Mrs Merkel said: "I'm crossing my fingers."

Polls suggest that her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will remain the biggest party in Saxony-Anhalt in the east of the country.


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It faces defeat to the Greens in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the west, where it is currently the largest party. And in Rhineland-Palatinate, where the CDU came a close second last time, the race is on a knife edge.

Polls put the AfD's support as high as 19% in Saxony-Anhalt, where the CDU and the Social Democrats now govern in coalition. If the AfD performs as well as the polls indicate, the coalition partners may need to team up with a third party to assemble a majority.