Surprising Loss For Merkel Coalition In Lower-Saxony Ahead Of German General Election

In what is a surprising warning shot for Merkel's popularity ahead of the September general election in Germany, moments ago the CDU/FDP ruling coalition lost the vote in Lower Saxony to the center-left Social Democratic Party/Greens block by a last minute, one-seat win according to Reuters. The SPD and Greens won a combined 46.3 percent against 45.9 percent for the centre-right, with the FDP defying predictions they would fail to win a seat and scoring 9.9 percent - twice what they had been forecast to get, however the boost coming as a result of a CDU ballot-splitting strategy that may have now backfired. Here is how Deutsche Bank described the significance of this regional election previously: The outcome of the Lower Saxony election in Germany on 20 January could tell the market something about the popularity of the FDP party and the likelihood for a continuation of the CDU-FDP coali...