Merkel’s party faces tough election year as twin state votes begin

German voters go to the polls in two key western states to kick off an election year, in what is widely viewed as a tough test for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party, amid public anger over a coronavirus corruption scandal and a series of pandemic setbacks.

Sunday’s polling takes place in the southwestern auto hub of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the neighboring region of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) poll numbers, however, are sliding as Germans are angry at the government’s handling of the health crisis, recent polls show.

According to surveys, support for Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance has fallen to a one-year low at around 30 percent.

In the region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Merkel’s party risks being replaced as junior coalition partner to the Greens by the Social Democrats (SPD) and liberal Free Democrats.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the CDU was leading in opinion polls as recently as late February but has now slipped behind the left-leaning SPD.

The chancellor has so far brought four consecutive national election victories for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

CDU leaders are concerned that if a party alliance ousts them from government in Baden-Wuerttemberg, then such a tie-up could gain credibility at September’s federal vote - and could leave the party in opposition at national level.

While new CDU leader Armin Laschet is in pole position in the race to succeed Merkel, defeat in the region could help his Bavarian rival Markus Soeder in his bid to become the conservative chancellor candidate in September.

"Merkel's CDU is facing a disaster," wrote Germany’s Bild tabloid, calling the polls a "corona election."

A lawmaker from her bloc on Thursday became the third within a week to resign from her parliamentary group.

They were accused of receiving payments for brokering face mask procurement deals.

Merkel’s conservative-led coalition is also under fire for sluggish coronavirus vaccine rollout that has been caused by supply shortages and leaden bureaucracy.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), said on Friday that lawmakers caught in a face mask procurement scandal had engaged in “shabby and shameful” behavior.

He acknowledged that Germans were tired of living under lockdown.

“...And then have to hear that MPs, of all people, are holding out their hand before the modest medical protection of face masks even reaches the people...That is shabby and shameful,” he said.

Mark Hauptmann from the eastern state of Thuringia would also give up his seat in parliament over the allegations, his office confirmed on Thursday.

A Wednesday poll from Forsa put Merkel’s bloc on 33%, down from 40% in June when she won plaudits for her management of the coronavirus crisis in its first phase.

Merkel will not seek a fifth term as chancellor in September.

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