Merkel party faces regional poll debacles

BERLIN: Hit by a string of crises, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative union now faces two likely regional poll debacles, in Bavaria on Sunday and in Hesse two weeks later, further rocking her fragile coalition.

Only days ago she implored her center-right CDU’s lawmakers to support their allies of the more conservative CSU sister party in Bavaria, saying it was time “to face the voters rather than snipe away at each other.”