Merkel 'slumps in Hamburg as Greens surge'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party has suffered its worst-ever cause regional elections in the town state of Hamburg, preliminary results say.
The conservative CDU is suffering a leadership crisis after party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation earlier this month.
The Greens made big gains, while the centre-left SPD is defined to remain the major party.
The far-right AfD lost ground but might just qualify for seats.
The party is currently represented in every 16 German state legislatures and in a few places polls in double digits.
The vote comes days after a racist gunman killed nine persons in shisha bars in the western city of Hanau.
'Bitter day' for CDU
The effect, if confirmed by final vote figures, will likely lead to a continuation of the red-green coalition in the left-leaning northern port city.
The Christian Democrats (CDU) have slipped into third place with bit more than 11%.
Party general secretary Paul Ziemiak said it was a "bitter day", and acknowledged that Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer's resignation announcement following a scandal in the eastern state of Thuringia had damaged the party.
The CDU there caused consternation by voting with the AfD to elect a regional leader, a move Ms Merkel described as "unforgiveable" and against the CDU's values.
The AfD is continuing to grow in popularity recently but has been condemned for its extreme views on immigration, freedom of speech and the press.
Meanwhile Greens national co-leader Robert Habeck told German TV the party's performance was an excellent success.
The preliminary results gave them 24.1%, almost doubly many votes as five years back.
"We have a very challenging situation for democracy in Germany, and the CDU is tied up in its own problems... It'll be up to us to give the land direction and trust," Mr Habeck said.
The party may have benefited from the occurrence of climate activist Greta Thunberg, who joined thousands of people in a demonstration in the town on Friday.
The Social Democrats (SPD) - Mrs Merkel's coalition partner at national level - received 39.1%, down about six percentage points from the 2015 election but enough for incumbent Mayor Peter Tschentscher to carry onto power.
