Angela Merkel’s party suffered heavy defeats in regional elections on Sunday as voters turned on her government over its handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The results will heap pressure on Mrs Merkel ahead of September’s general election, when Germans will finally choose her successor as chancellor.

According to initial projections, her Christian Democrat (CDU) party slumped to its worst ever results in two states it once regarded as strongholds.

In the key southern state of Baden-Württemberg, where the party ruled uninterrupted for 58 years, it limped in with just 23 per cent of the vote, far behind the rival Greens who won the state with 31 per cent.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, it saw its vote share fall by more than 6 points to just 26 per cent, as the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD) won the state with 34.5 per cent.

Experts cautioned that the unusually high share of postal votes because of the coronavirus meant initial projections might not be as accurate as usual. But it was clear the CDU had suffered a terrible evening, as its two main rivals in September divided the spoils.

Lars Klingbeil, the SPD secretary-general told German television the results had blown the race to succeed Mrs Merkel as chancellor in September wide open, .

“There are majorities in reach for coalitions without the CDU,” Mr Klingbeil said. “The message to the federal government is: the race is open.”

These were the first significant elections in Germany since the pandemic began, and the CDU’s heavy losses were widely seen as a verdict on the country’s shambolic vaccine roll-out.

Just a couple of months ago, the CDU was ahead in Rhineland-Palatinate and neck-and-neck with the Greens in Baden-Württemberg, but it saw its vote evaporate in both states as it became clear that Germany, the world’s fourth-biggest economy, is months behind the UK and US in vaccinating its citizens.

A corruption scandal that saw three MPs forced to resign in a week — two of them over alleged kickbacks for government facemask contracts — in the run-up to voting did not help.

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Mrs Merkel, who was praised for much of last year for her initial handling of the crisis, is now reaping the voters’ anger over her fateful decision to entrust vaccine orders to the European Commission.

Just 6 per cent of Germans have received their first jab so far, compared to more than 30 per cent of Britons. After almost four months in lockdown, Germany is weary of restrictions and there is no end in sight.

The CDU is now close to crisis. There must be serious doubt over whether Armin Laschet, who was elected party leader less than two months ago, can now be trusted to be its candidate for chancellor in September. Jens Spahn, until recently another contender for the role, is facing calls to resign as health minister.

That leaves Markus Söder, the popular leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, who may now be parachuted in as a rescue candidate.

The far-Right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), for so long the thorn in Mrs Merkel’s side, failed to capitalise on public anger and saw its vote share fall in both states.

But the CDU’s two main rivals, the Greens and the SPD, will both now believe they have a chance to oust the party from power in September and lead a rival coalition.

The SPD, currently Mrs Merkel’s junior coalition partner, have managed to distance themselves from the vaccine chaos and their chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholz, has had a good pandemic as finance minister.

The Greens, currently second in the national polls, will believe their resounding victory in Baden-Württemberg could be the springboard for the party to seize the chancellery and lead a national government for the first time.

Mrs Merkel, who has spent so much of her final two years in fighting to secure the CDU leadership for her ideological heirs, could now find the next chancellor isn’t even from her party.