Supporters of Carsten Sieling, Bremen's mayor and top candidate of the Social Democrats (SPD) for the German city-state of Bremen parliamentary elections react after first election polls were published in Bremen, Germany, May 26, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) suffered a humbling blow on Sunday, failing to win the most votes in the state of Bremen for the first time in 73 years, but their leader vowed to stay in government with Angela Merkel's conservatives.
The humiliating result predicted in an exit poll will intensify pressure on SPD leader Andrea Nahles to stand down and break with the federal coalition at the end of the year. However she received applause after telling members at SPD headquarters to keep their chins up despite the disappointing results.
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