Angela Merkel's party gets its ass kicked again in a German regional election

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel placed much of the blame for her party's poor performance in a weekend election on Germany's discussion about nuclear energy, and said Monday she hopes "quick and clear decisions" on its future will defuse the issue.

Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats slipped behind the environmentalist opposition Greens into third place in Bremen, Germany's smallest state, in Sunday's regional election. It was their worst showing there since 1959.

In March, the Christian Democrats lost a traditional heartland, the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, to a Green-led center-left coalition.

Merkel said both votes were marked by Germany's discussion over nuclear energy. .............(more)

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