German state election offers 1st test since Scholz took over

BERLIN (AP) — The western German state of Saarland is holding a state election that offers the country’s first test at the ballot box since Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s national government took office in December. Polls point to a solid lead for Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats in a region led since 1999 by the center-right Christian Democratic Union of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. That doesn’t necessarily have much to do with a turbulent first 100 days for Scholz’s three-party coalition during which Russia’s war in Ukraine prompted the chancellor to upend German defense policy. Sunday’s vote is the first of three state elections within two months that will set the political tone for the coming year.