Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has denied that a defeat by her party in a regional election has weakened her position before complex coalition negotiations to form a new government. Just three weeks after her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) posted its worst national election result, the party suffered a surprise defeat in Lower Saxony to the Social Democrats (SPD). He said Lower Saxony’s voters had punished Merkel for saying on election night that the CDU had “done everything right”. In Lower Saxony, home to the beleaguered carmaker Volkswagen, the SPD secured 36.9% of the vote, the CDU 33.6%, the Greens 8.7%, and the FDP 7.5%. Schulz called the result in Lower Saxony a “wonderful victory” for the SPD.

Source: The Guardian October 16, 2017 15:47 UTC