Bloomberg reports that the German Green party’s efforts to seize the chancellorship got a major boost Sunday after Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union suffered a rout in regional elections.

With Merkel due to step aside after September’s national vote, her party slumped to its worst results ever in two regional ballots on Sunday, as voters vented their frustration over the government’s handling of the pandemic and the slow pace of vaccinations.

The Greens were the big winners of the night, cementing their decade-long hold on power in Baden-Wuerttemberg with a third straight victory in the western state. They also gained the most support in neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate, where they govern with the Social Democrats -- who remained the strongest party -- and the liberal Free Democrats.