BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU) looked set to make a clear win a regional election in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, in a boost to the party which was ousted from national government in federal elections last year.
An exit poll by ARD Tagesschau put the CDU at 43{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3} of the vote, up 11 percentage points compared to the last vote, while the Social Democrats slumped to 15.5{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3}.
The environmental Greens and the pro-business FDP parties, who have been in a coalition with the conservatives since 2017 scored 17{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3} and 7{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3} respectively.
The South Schleswig Party (SSW), which represents the ethnic Danish minority, won 6{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3} of the votes while both the far-right AfD and far-left Linke parties did not reach the 5{5ad0cd663e4180c32b8049fbde12201ec3855e324a84c95f0595f875746ae8b3} of votes necessary to secure seats in the state's parliament.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Maria Sheahan)
