BERLIN (AP) — Elections in two German states on Sunday pose a difficult test for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, six months before a national vote that will determine who succeeds the country’s longtime leader. Voters are choosing new regional legislatures in Baden-Wuerttemberg, an economic powerhouse region in southwestern Germany that has the country’s only Green party governor, and neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate. Those ballots kick off an electoral marathon this year, which features six state elections and culminates in the Sept. 26 vote for a new national parliament. Polls point to weak results for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union.
