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Rhineland-Palatinate's State Premier and top candidate of the social democratic SPD party Malu Dreyer (L) is seen in the state parliament (Landtag) after after exit poll results were published in Mainz, western Germany, at the end of state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate on March 14, 2021. - Germans headed to the polls in two key regional elections, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives bracing for a drubbing on anger over a corruption scandal and a series of pandemic setbacks. The votes for new regional parliaments in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wuerttemberg are seen as a bellwether ahead of September 26 general elections -- which will be the first in over 15 years not to feature Merkel. (Photo by ARMANDO BABANI / AFP) (KEYSTONE/AFP/ARMANDO BABANI)