BERLIN, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Election results in two German states during the weekend don't bode well for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's political hopes, analysts say.
In Sunday's voting in Saarland and Thuringia, Merkel's Christian Democratic Union lost their parliamentary majorities while in a third state, Saxony, the CDU retained enough seats to form a governing coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats, the EUobserver reported.
Merkel hopes to recreate the Saxony CDU-Free Democrat coalition on a national scale in the Sept. 27 general election, but the state results have led to nervousness among supporters of the center-right CDU, some of whom blame Merkel's campaign style for an erosion of voter popularity, the newspaper said.
The EUobserver said op-ed pieces from CDU supporters have been appearing in German newspapers urging Merkel to display more passion and to state clearly that the Free Democrats would be her coalition partner in a future government.
But the state election results were an even bigger disappointment to the Social Democrats, who failed to see any gains for their party at the CDU's expense as voters instead opted for far-left or far-right parties, the newspaper said.
