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 Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) lost support in all three
states - the industrial state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the
wine-growing region of Rhineland-Palatinate and the eastern state of
Saxony-Anhalt - in the first elections that gave voters a chance to
react to Merkel's migrant policy.
The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which takes a hard
line on immigration, took around a quarter of the vote in
Saxony-Anhalt, becoming the second biggest party there, and also
made strong gains in the other two states.
"The wake-up call" ran the headline on the front page of Monday's
Handelsblatt newspaper above a cartoon picture of Merkel in track
suit struggling to hold up weights representing her conservatives
and the Social Democrats (SPD), her junior coalition partner at the
federal level.
 "Simply continuing on the same path is not an option," the business
daily said in an editorial, referring to the refugee crisis,
integration concerns and a lack of convincing answers from the CDU
and SPD to other issues such as digitalization.
Germany took in 1.1 million migrants fleeing the Middle East, Africa
and elsewhere last year and is expecting hundreds of thousands more
to arrive this year. That has stoked concerns among some Germans
that their country is being overrun by migrants with cultures that
are vastly different to their own.
Horst Seehofer, leader of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU),
sister party to Merkel's CDU, blamed Merkel's refugee policy for the
conservatives' weak showing in the elections,
"We should tell people that we get it and that we will draw the
consequences from this election result," he was quoted as saying by
newspaper websites. "CRUSHING DEFEAT"
Andreas Scheuer, general secretary of the CSU, said Germany needed
quick and effective solutions to limit the influx.
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Merkel, whose popularity has taken a hit as concerns mount about
integration and security, has already said the numbers of migrants
coming needs to be reduced.
Mario Ohoven, president of the BVMW Mittelstand association, said
the AfD's success should trigger government policy changes, adding
that if Merkel stuck to her current refugee stance, the right-wing
populist movement would keep growing.
Erika Steinbach, a CDU member of parliament who has been critical of
Merkel's stance, suggested on Twitter the government was acting like
a "dictatorship" with its refugee policy.
But others saw little reason for Merkel, who has led Europe's
biggest economy for a decade, to change tack.
In an editorial mass-selling daily Bild said Merkel had experienced
a "crushing defeat on this super torturous election Sunday" but
would likely stick to her political course and said the price for
this would be a deeply divided conservative group.
"That's where the real danger for Merkel lies. No chancellor in
Germany has ever been able to rule against his or her own party for
long," it said.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin; additional reporting by Gernot
Heller; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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