Merkel’s party ahead in local votes in northern German state

BERLIN (AP) — Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party has maintained its position as the strongest party in a northern German state. The elections in Lower Saxony took place two weeks before a national election in which the party is struggling in polls. Sunday’s elections for local councils in Lower Saxony, in Germany’s northwest, may offer the Christian Democratic Union some cheer even though such votes are of very limited significance for the national picture. Nationwide polls currently show the CDU slightly behind the center-left Social Democrats. The three candidates for chancellor faced off Sunday night in the second of three televised debates.