BERLIN, March 26 (UPI) -- Exit polls show voters maintaining the status quo in three German provinces Sunday.
The BBC reports the Christian Democrats appear to have retained power in Baden-Wurttemberg and Saxony-Anhalt, and Social Democrats appear to have done the same in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The results could be good news for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democrats were the top vote-getter in an inconclusive national election last year. Merkel is trying to hold together a left-right coalition that includes the Social Democrats.
Since she became chancellor, Merkel has become Germany's most popular politician, Deutsche Welle reported. Some of her conservative allies were afraid that would fuel significant gains at the polls for their party and destroy the national alliance.
"The SPD should not lose too many votes," one of her close advisors told the conservative daily Die Welt. "It is difficult as it is with the Social Democrats as partners."
