(REUTERS, AFP), 14 May 2017 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives defeated the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) in a key state election on Sunday, exit polls showed, boosting their hopes of retaining power in September’s national vote.

The Christian Democrats (CDU) saw a strong surge of support in Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), which is home to one in five German voters and has often been a national trend-setter in elections.

The CDU won 34.5 percent, up from 26.3 percent in 2012, according to an exit poll on public broadcaster ARD just after polls closed.

The SPD, which has ruled NRW for most of the past half century, fell to 30.5 percent from 39.1 percent. It was the third straight state defeat for the SPD since March, casting a shadow over their once bright hopes of denying Merkel a fourth four-year term in the national election on Sept. 24.

It was not clear whether the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), the CDU’s preferred partners projected to win 12 percent, had enough votes for the two allies to form a majority in the state.

What was clear is that the ruling SPD-Greens coalition fell far short of a majority as the Greens won about 6 percent, down from 11.3 percent in 2012. The nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has no coalition allies, won 7.5 percent.

“This is a great day for North Rhine-Westphalia,” said local CDU leader Armin Laschet, who will most likely become state premier. “We accomplished our two goals: defeating the SPD-Greens coalition and becoming the strongest party in the state.”