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Germans voted in a state election on Sunday that risks weakening Chancellor Angela Merkel's government just months into her second term in office, and her top ally in the region said the outcome lay on a knife edge.Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Free Democrat (FDP) allies must hold onto power in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to keep her federal government's majority in the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament.The election was widely regarded as a referendum on Merkel's six-month-old government and came just two days after her coalition voted to release billions of euros in aid to debt-stricken Greece -- a move deeply unpopular with the public."The result is not predictable. The election is on a knife edge," Juergen Ruettgers, CDU premier in the state, told reporters after voting. "I'm optimistic and think we've got our nose in front, but we will have to wait and see."A defeat for the CDU and the FDP in the state, Germany's most populous, would end their majority in the Bundesrat and cause delays in delivering policies -- including tax cuts -- that they agreed after last September's federal election.Opinion polls showed the CDU and the FDP, whose alliance in NRW mirrors a similar power-sharing deal at federal level, were short of the support they needed to clinch a majority.Hannelore Kraft, NRW leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Germany's main opposition party, appeared relaxed after voting."It's a good feeling. We've worked hard over the last five years," said Kraft, adding that she was looking forward to watching the Spanish Grand Prix, where Germany's Sebastian Vettel started in the front row of the grid.There are some 13.5 million eligible voters in North Rhine-Westphalia and its economy is roughly the same size as those of Poland and the Czech Republic combined.By 12 p.m. (1000 GMT) voter turnout was at 30 percent, the state election officer said in a statement, compared to 32 percent at 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) in the 2005 NRW state election.GREECE FACTORMerkel has faced criticism from opposition parties for her handling of the Greece debt crisis after she initially resisted granting aid due to massive popular opposition to a bailout.After backing a Greek rescue package, Merkel said last week the plan must succeed or other European countries may suffer the same fate. She has also criticised financial market speculators for exaggerating tensions in the euro zone."The election is extremely important because it is the first vote after the federal election and the poll in this big German state is being seen as a test for her," said Gerd Langguth, political scientist at Bonn University and biographer of Merkel.Five years ago, a defeat in NRW led then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to call an early election, which he lost to Merkel.No one was expecting anything that dramatic this time around, but a defeat for Ruettgers could signal a turning in the political tide in Germany, which has been shifting in favour of the CDU for much of the past decade.Anything short of a CDU-FDP win would be a blow to Merkel."If the CDU loses its majority with the FDP, which is to be expected, it would not be a catastrophe but it would certainly make things more complicated and difficult for the chancellor," said Langguth.(Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Matthew Jones and Mark Heinrich)
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