(AP-ANSA) - BERLIN - Germany's governing parties lost significant support in a state election Sunday marked by discontent with infighting in the national government, according to projections. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives were in the lead in the vote for the central region of Hesse's state legislature. Her center-left governing partners were on course for a dismal result, running neck-and-neck with the Greens for second place. Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union was defending its 19-year hold on Hesse, previously a stronghold of the center-left Social Democrats, the chancellor's federal coalition partners in Berlin. There has been widespread speculation that a disastrous result for either or both parties could further destabilize the national government and, ultimately, Merkel's own position. Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, gave the CDU 27-28 percent support and the center-left Social Democrats about 20 percent. When Hesse last elected its state legislature in 2013, they won 38.3 and 30.7 percent, respectively. That would be the worst result in the region for the Social Democrats since World War II. There were gains for the Greens, who were roughly level with Social Democrats at nearly 20 percent - compared with 11.1 percent five years ago.

And the far-right Alternative for Germany was on course to enter the last of Germany's 16 state parliaments with more than 12 percent. The pro-business Free Democrats were seen winning around 7 percent and the Left Party 6.5 percent. Voters have appeared generally satisfied with conservative governor Volker Bouffier's outgoing state government. It was the first coalition between the CDU and the traditionally left-leaning Greens to last a full parliamentary term, and an unexpectedly harmonious alliance. But only the Greens, who are in opposition nationally, benefited at the polls. The projections left unclear whether Bouffier's outgoing coalition would keep its parliamentary majority and exactly what other combinations are possible. The election campaign in prosperous Hesse, which includes Germany's financial center of Frankfurt, has been largely overshadowed by the woes of a federal coalition that has been in office only since March. The state is home to 6.2 million of Germany's 82 million people. Two weeks ago, two of the federal governing parties - the Christian Social Union, the Bavaria-only sister to Merkel's CDU, and the Social Democrats - were battered in a state election in neighboring Bavaria. Merkel's chief of staff, Helge Braun, said that "this is of course a difficult result for the CDU" but that his party remains the strongest in Hesse. He said the national government must now pull together and "show we are solving the problems that really move people." The Social Democrats only reluctantly entered Merkel's national government in March, and many are dismayed by what has happened since. It remains to be seen whether the outcome in Hesse will result for a significant push by critics for the Social Democrats to leave the federal "grand coalition." The government has been through two major crises, first over whether to turn back small numbers of migrants at the German-Austrian border and then over what to do with the head of Germany's domestic intelligence service after he was accused of downplaying far-right violence against migrants. It has failed to convince voters that it's achieving much on other matters. "This is a signal to the 'grand coalition' that things must change," said the Social Democrats' general secretary, Lars Klingbeil. "There will be an intensive discussion in the coming days." GEIR MOULSON/ (AP-ANSA)