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BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party was heading toward victory Sunday night in a key state election, according to unofficial results, a victory that could bode well for conservatives in federal elections in September.
The Social Democrats, who share power with Merkel on the federal level, were decimated, a blow to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in his bid to replace Merkel as chancellor in September.
According to a complete but unofficial count, the Christian Democrats won 37.5 percent of the vote in Hesse. The Social Democrats won about 23.8 percent of the vote, its worst showing ever in the state.
