Merkel's CDU beaten by anti-immigrant AfD in state election-exit poll

People react to first exit polls during the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election at the anti-immigrant Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) post election venue in Schwerin, Germany, September 4, 2016. REUTERS/Joachim Herrmann

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats were beaten into third place by the anti-immigrant and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a north-eastern state election on Sunday, TV exit polls showed.

In a stinging defeat for Merkel in her home district that could weaken her chances of a fourth term in next year's federal elections, the upstart AfD took 21.9 percent of the vote behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by campaigning hard against the chancellor's policies on refugees, according to a projection by ARD TV at 1815 GMT.