Merkel coalition suffers heavy losses in Euro elections

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-left coalition government suffered huge losses in Sunday's European elections, while the far-right, Islamophobic AfD party made major gains.

Projections by public broadcaster ARD showed Merkel's Christian Democratic bloc (CDU/CSU) captured only 28% of the vote, a significant fall from the 35.3% it scored in the last European Parliament election five years ago.

Merkel's coalition government partner the Social Democrat Party (SPD) crashed to 15.5%, sharply down from the 27.3% of the vote it collected in 2014.

The far-right Islamophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to win 10.5% of the vote, up from 7.1% in the last election.

The environmentalist, pro-immigration Green Party enjoyed the biggest climb to a record 22%, up from 10.7% in the last election.

Turnout, estimated to be at 59%, was nearly 11 points higher than the previous European Parliament elections in 2014.