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Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU is set to remain the strongest party at the local level in the central state of Hesse. Germany's two ruling parties, the center-right CDU and center-left SPD, look like they are remaining the strongest forces after municipal elections in Hesse The far-right AfD made lower than expected gains to take third place, partial results show Here is a roundup of the top news and human interest stories from and about Germany on Monday, March 16, 2026: CDU leads the pack in Hesse regional elections — partial results Partial results from Sunday's regional elections in Germany's central state of Hesse show that the Christian Democrats (CDU) are set to remain the strongest power, receiving 29.7% of the vote, with their coalition partners at national level, the Social Democrats (SPD), coming in second place with 20.2%. This compares with 28.5% and 24% respectively at 2021 elections. The result is likely to come as somewhat of a relief to Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU, whose party was narrowly defeated by the Greens in state elections in neighboring Baden-Württemberg a week ago. In the Hesse elections, the Greens did not fare as well, losing their position as third-strongest party at local level to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), with the partial results released by the state statistical office in Wiesbaden giving the environmentalist party 14.4% compared with 15.9% for the far-right one. The AfD's result more than doubled that from the last regional elections in the state five years ago, when it received 6.9%. The party's surge to popularity across the country is being watched with concern by many observers who see the AfD as a danger to democracy. The AfD's regional chapter in Hesse has been labelled a suspected extremist organization by the domestic intelligence in the state, while the national AfD was classified as a confirmed right-wing extremist group last year for alleged racist and anti-democratic tendencies. The party is contesting the label in court. Sunday's vote will decide the make-up of local councils and city parliaments in Hesse, along with several mayoral posts. Hesse is home to Germany's financial hub of Frankfurt. Altogether 4.7 million people were eligible to vote, including some 430,00 non-German citizens from other European Union member states. Voter turnout was 54.4%, beating 50.4% in 2021. Welcome to our coverage DW wishes its readers a warm guten Tag at the start of a new week. Germany's ruling parties, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), have just faced another test of their popularity with a local vote in the central-western state of Hesse. Though the two parties seem set to retain their positions as top parties in the state, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has made gains that will trouble those who see the party as a danger to democracy and the rule of law. Read on for more about this and other events in Germany on Monday, March 16.