BERLIN, Oct. 28-- The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, suffered a great loss in Sunday's state election in Hesse, according to the initial forecast by the public broadcaster ARD. Although CDU retained the biggest party but was reduced to 28 percent of the votes, a sharp decline from the 38.3 percent in the previous election. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), CDU's governing partner in the federal government, got 20 percent, also downed from its 30.7 percent five years ago. The centrist Greens were seen as the biggest winner, securing 19.5 percent of the ballots and making its record high in the state election. |