BERLIN, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The center-left Social Democrats reclaimed power in regional elections in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, officials said.
Preliminary results also indicated Green Party candidates were elected Sunday to the region's parliament for the first time, The New York Times reported.
The Social Democrats won 36 percent of the vote, 6 percentage points more than in 2006, preliminary results indicated. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union garnered 24 percent, down 4 percentage points from five years ago.
The Green Party claimed 8.5 percent of the vote, more than double the 3.4 percent it received in 2006, preliminary results indicated.
In March, the Green Party -- part of the opposition on the national level -- defeated Christian Democrats in Baden-Wurttemberg, taking over governance of a German state for the first time, the Times said.
"We have the wind on our backs," Green Party leader Cem Ozdemir said on German television Sunday. "We ran a focused campaign, concentrating on education and the environment."
Losing out in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania elections were the Free Democrats, a pro-business party allied with Christian Democrats on the federal level, the Times said. Because the party won only 3 percent of the vote, falling short of the 5 percent minimum, it will be excluded from the regional parliament, the Times reported.
