Blow for Scholz as conservatives win key German state vote

BERLIN (AP) — Voters in Germany have backed the incumbent conservative governor and dealt a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in the country’s most populous state. Projections based on partial counts showed the Christian Democrats getting 35.7% in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election. The Social Democrats slumped to 26.7%, while the environmentalist Greens more than doubled their share with 18.2%. That was a record for the party in the state. The pro-business Free Democrats saw a big drop in support and were on course to get 5.6% of the vote. The election in North Rhine-Westphalia was seen as an important test for Scholz. His government at the national level has faced a challenging start tackling the fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.