Germany's Schulz sees 'rocky road' to election after key state defeat

Germany's Social Democrat chief Martin Schulz acknowledged on May 15 that his party faced a "rocky road" to national elections, after it was soundly beaten in a key state by Chancellor Angela Merkel's party.

The chancellor, meanwhile, hailed the strong victory in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on May 14 and vowed to do "everything we can" to ensure that her party also prevails in general elections set for Sept. 24.

Schulz's SPD won just 31.2 percent of the votes, well below the 39.1 percent it garnered five years ago, final results showed.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) saw a surge in support, winning 33 percent, up from 26.3 percent in 2012.

The CDU focused its campaign in the state, for decades an SPD stronghold, on attacking the SPD for failing to tackle local issues like crumbling infrastructure that causes huge traffic jams, rising crime and an underperforming education system.

It was not clear whether the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), the CDU's preferred partners projected to win 12 percent, had enough votes for the two allies to form a majority in the state.

What was clear is that the ruling SPD-Greens coalition fell far short of a majority as the Greens won about 6 percent, down from 11.3 percent in 2012. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has no coalition allies, won 7.5 percent.

Merkel said her party would now gear up for the national campaign.

"We are aware that this new phase will be an exhausting one," she said, but added that the grand right-left coalition led by her party has a good record to show.

Schulz, for his part, admitted that "we suffered a difficult moment last night."

"One thing that is totally clear is that, before general elections on...

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