GERMANY'S SOCIAL DEMOCRATS REEL AFTER WORST SHOWING IN STATE ELECTION

STUTTGART, March 9 (Bernama-dpa) -- Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) were reeling on Sunday after plunging to their worst-ever result in a German state election, reported German news agency dpa. 

Projections showed the party falling to a distant fourth place in the prosperous south-western state of Baden-Württemberg with just 5.4 per cent of the vote, barely scraping over the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter the regional parliament in Stuttgart.

German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, the party's co-leader at the national level, described the result as a "bitter evening."

The party's lead candidate in Baden-Württemberg, Andreas Stoch, announced his resignation shortly after exit polls were released.

The vote was the first of five state elections to be held this year in Germany, with the SPD facing an intense battle to retain its hold on power in neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate on March 22. 

Historically one of the top two parties in Germany alongside the Christian Democrats (CDU), the SPD has declined in popularity in recent years, tumbling to 16.4 per cent in last year's parliamentary election.

However, the party has been in government in Berlin since 2013, having led an unhappy three-way coalition under ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz between 2021 and 2025.

The SPD's downfall in Baden-Württemberg may have benefited the Greens, which mounted a surprise comeback to surpass the CDU according to the latest projections. 

Before Sunday, the SPD's worst result in a state election came in the eastern state of Thuringia in 2024, where the party received just 6.1 per cent of the vote.

--BERNAMA-dpa