CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who is also interior minister in Merkel’s loveless coalition, had hoped his anti-immigration rhetoric and criticism of Merkel’s liberal asylum policies would help his party fend off a threat from the far-right in Bavaria. The Christian Social Union (CSU) - sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - gained 35.5 percent in Germany's largest and second most populous state, according to an exit poll for broadcaster ARD.It represents the worst election result since 1950, and a loss of its absolute majority for only the second time since 1962. “Based on current polls, if an election were held now, the CDU, CSU and SPD would not even command a majority in the Bundestag.”

The CSU will now be be forced to form a coalition government — a humiliating outcome for a party that has run Bavaria single-handedly for 49 of the last 54 years.
Voters in Bavaria, Germany go to the polls for electing the 180 members of the 18th Landtag of Bavaria, with the Christian-democratic conservative CSU party suffering significant losses.