Another blow for the SPD: Following their debacle in the Baden-Württemberg state elections two weeks ago, the party has suffered another sharp loss in Rhineland-Palatinate, dropping around nine percentage points and losing to the CDU.
Projections from ARD and ZDF (Infratest dimap and Forschungsgruppe Wahlen) after 8 p.m. show the CDU leading with 30.6%, while the Social Democrats, who have governed for 35 years under incumbent state premier Alexander Schweitzer, trail in second place with just 25.7%.