German chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered a setback in a regional election where her parliamentary constituency is located.
Provisional results from the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania show her Christian Democrat party received 23.1% of the vote, down from 28.8% in 2006 - a drop of 4%.
The BBC says Mrs Merkel's coalition allies, the Free Democrats (FDP), also fared badly, securing only 2.7% of the vote, down from 9.6% in 2006. Parties must reach 5% to enter the state's parliament.
The centre-left Social Democrats (SDP) came out ahead with 35.7% support while the opposition Greens also made gains.
Turnout appeared to be significantly down on the 2006 election, at 53.5% of eligible voters.
