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Merkel faces rout in state vote over austerity
Source: Reuters
Merkel faces rout in state vote over austerity
BERLIN | Sat May 12, 2012 6:44pm EDT
(Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives face defeat in a vote in Germany's most populous state on Sunday that could give the left momentum before next year's federal election and fuel criticism of the chancellor's European austerity drive.
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), an industrial state in western Germany with an economy and population roughly the size of the Netherlands, has a history of influencing national politics.
First exit polls are due at 1600 GMT and are expected to show Hannelore Kraft of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) trouncing her Christian Democrat (CDU) rival Norbert Roettgen, Merkel's environment minister.
The vote is likely to bolster the SPD's fortunes nationwide and make Merkel, Germany's most popular politician, look politically vulnerable for the first time in a long while.
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BERLIN | Sat May 12, 2012 6:44pm EDT
(Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives face defeat in a vote in Germany's most populous state on Sunday that could give the left momentum before next year's federal election and fuel criticism of the chancellor's European austerity drive.
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), an industrial state in western Germany with an economy and population roughly the size of the Netherlands, has a history of influencing national politics.
First exit polls are due at 1600 GMT and are expected to show Hannelore Kraft of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) trouncing her Christian Democrat (CDU) rival Norbert Roettgen, Merkel's environment minister.
The vote is likely to bolster the SPD's fortunes nationwide and make Merkel, Germany's most popular politician, look politically vulnerable for the first time in a long while.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/12/us-germany-election-nrw-idUSBRE84B0B120120512