Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) took a hit Sunday evening, with early results showing that recent scandals and the mishandling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout potentially damaged the party in two vital state elections, writes DW.

The votes in the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate were seen as the first major political test of the “super election year” which culminates with the general election in September, and the results may have caused CDU leaders to worry.

The party’s general secretary, Paul Ziemiak, admitted that the results were disappointing on Sunday evening. But he sought to put the defeat down to the “personal success” of the winning incumbent state premiers, of the Greens and the Social Democrats, rather than a failure of the CDU. “In a crisis, we saw that the voters trusted the governing leaders”, - he said in a brief statement.

Nevertheless, Ziemiak acknowledged that recent corruption scandals and concern over the national government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic had damaged the CDU, which remains the biggest party in the country.