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		</div><p>Chancellor Angela Merkel&#8217;s conservative party has easily won an election in Germany&#8217;s western Saarland state. It was an unexpectedly strong performance as Ms Merkel prepares to seek a fourth term in a national vote later this year, projections showed.</p>
<p>The outcome was disappointing for her centre-left rivals, the Social Democrats, who were facing their first electoral test since the party&#8217;s nomination in January of Martin Schulz as Ms Merkel&#8217;s rival for the chancellery boosted its poll ratings.</p>
<p>Projections prepared for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, showed Ms Merkel&#8217;s Christian Democrats polling up to 41% in the election for Saarland&#8217;s state legislature.</p>
<p>They showed the Social Democrats receiving up to 30% of the vote.<br />
Saarland is currently run by a &#8220;grand coalition&#8221; of the two big parties, similar to Ms Merkel&#8217;s governing alliance in Berlin.</p>
<p>Pre-election polls had suggested a significantly tighter race and indicated that the Social Democrats might be able to form a new left-wing coalition in Saarland, a region of nearly one million people on the French border.</p>
<p>That appeared highly unlikely on Sunday, as the opposition Left Party &#8211; which is traditionally strong in the region &#8211; won some 13% and the left-leaning Greens looked set to fall short of the 5% needed to keep its seats.</p>
<p>The nationalist Alternative for Germany was seen entering the state legislature with 6% of the vote.<br />
Last year, AfD rode discontent over the influx of migrants to Germany to double-digit performances in several state elections, an issue that has faded somewhat from headlines.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a great start to the election year 2017,&#8221; said Michael Grosse-Broemer, the chief whip for Merkel&#8217;s Christian Democrats in Berlin. He described Sunday&#8217;s election as a &#8220;great success&#8221; for Saarland&#8217;s popular conservative governor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.</p>
<p>&#8220;This election shows that governing calmly &#8230; impresses people in turbulent times,&#8221; he said.<br />
Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer is one of only five conservative governors in Germany&#8217;s 16 states.</p>
<p>A loss for her would have been a worrying signal for the national campaign and for two bigger state elections in May &#8211; in Schleswig-Holstein and Germany&#8217;s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, both now led by the Social Democrats.</p>
<p>The national election will be held on September 24.</p>
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