Germany's Social Democrats beat Angela Merkel's conservatives in a closely-watched state poll today, dealing a blow to the chancellor as she heads into thorny coalition talks to form a national government.
In the state vote in Lower Saxony, home of Volkswagen, Martin Schulz's Social Democrats (SPD) clinched 37 to 37.5 per cent of the vote, followed by Merkel's CDU at 35 per cent, according to early results reported by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The far-right AfD scored 5.5 per cent, meaning it now holds seats in 14 of Germany's 16 regional parliaments.
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