DHAKA: The party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered defeats in two of three states holding regional elections, exit polls suggest.
They indicate the Christian Democrats lost support in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate, but remain the largest party in Saxony-Anhalt.
The anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party achieved gains in all three states, exit polls indicate, reports the BBC.
The elections were seen as a test of support for Chancellor Merkel's policy of accommodating refugees.
More than a million migrants and refugees entered Germany in 2015.
In the western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, a former stronghold of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), support for the party reached a historic low of about 27%, the exit polls suggest.
They say the Green-led coalition currently in power won the election.
The unprecedented success of the populist AfD shows just how vehemently some German voters disagree with Chancellor Merkel's pro-refugee stance. Many are conservative voters disenchanted with her centrist policies, and swayed by the robust populist narrative offered by AfD.
So is this a blow to Merkel's leadership? Not necessarily. It was also a historic victory for the Greens, who support the chancellor's position on refugees.
And during the campaign in Baden-Wurttemberg and Saxony-Anhalt the CDU candidates saw their voters fall away as they sporadically tried to undermine the chancellor's message and regain the populist ground from AfD.
Remarkably in those states it was the CDU's left-wing opponents who backed Mrs Merkel's refugee policies most consistently - and tonight reaped the rewards for it. These results are proof that Germany is becoming increasingly polarised between voters who passionately support Merkel's pro-refugee stance and those angered by it.
In Saxony-Anhalt, a poor, eastern state where the CDU and the Social Democrats govern together, that coalition looks set to remain in office but the exit polls say Alternative Fuer Deutschland (AdF) won about 22% of the vote.
The Social Democrats are set maintain their hold on Rhineland-Palatinate, a state the CDU had hoped to capture.
BDST: 1048 HRS, MAR 14, 2016
RS
