Merkel's party loses state election in German state of Lower Saxony

BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was beaten by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the state election of Lower Saxony on Sunday.

The SPD garnered 37.1 percent of the total votes, followed by CDU at 34.4 percent, according preliminary results broadcasted by ARD and ZDF.

The far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) gained 5.9 percent of the votes, thus entering the 14th state parliaments in Germany.

The Greens made with 8.8 percent and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 7.2 percent, while the Left Party had only 4.6 percent of the vote and will again remain outside the state parliament due to the 5-percent-hurdle. Enditem