Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives suffered their worst result for 52 years in the German city state of Bremen on Sunday as voters re-elected the Social Democratic-led coalition, exit polls showed.
Support in Bremen for her Christian Democrats (CDU) sank to 20 percent, its lowest since 1959 and down from 25.6 percent at the last Bremen state vote in 2007, putting the party behind the Greens in the region for the first time.
The Social Democrats (SPD) led with 38 percent, followed by the ecologist Greens with 22.5 percent, according to a poll released by broadcaster ARD that suggested the two retained enough support to again govern together as planned.
The vote in Germany's smallest state, with an electorate of only 500,000, went largely as expected, with the popularity of the CDU waning as it has in other state elections this year.
The Greens, who have enjoyed a surge in support across the country, did 6 percentage points better in Sunday's vote than in 2007. The pro-business Free Democrats, in power nationally with the CDU, fell three points to percent.
A spate of regional election defeats for Merkel's CDU this year have sent shock waves all the way to Berlin, although analysts had expected no surprises in the Bremen election.
The SPD had been running at 37 percent in the most recent poll prior to the vote, 13 points ahead of the Greens, which had held the number two slot.
It was the first time people as young as 16 years old were able to vote in a state election in Germany thanks to a law enacted last year in Bremen, a state which also includes the North Sea port of Bremerhaven.
The result, if confirmed as expected this week, will not influence the state's voting power or disposition in the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament where Merkel's coalition lacks a majority.