Merkel's party ahead in local votes in northern German state

The CDU has been the strongest party in local council elections for about 40 years, although the state government has often been led by the Social Democrats

Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right party has maintained its position as the strongest party following local elections in a northern German state, two weeks before a national election, in which it is struggling in polls, results showed on Monday. Sunday's elections for local councils in Lower Saxony state, in Germany's northwest, may offer the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) some cheer even though such votes are of very limited significance for the national picture, where polls currently show the CDU slightly behind the centre-left Social Democrats. The CDU has been the strongest party in local council elections in Lower Saxony for about 40 years, although the state government has often been led by the Social Democrats, and is, at present. In Sunday's elections, it took 31.7% of the vote, down from 34.3% five years ago, results showed.