09 October 2018•Update: 10 October 2018
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) is heading for its worst election performance since 1950, according to a recent poll released on Tuesday.
The poll conducted by the research institute Insa and published by Bild newspaper predicted that the CSU could win 33 percent of the vote on Sunday’s polls -- a significant fall from the 47.7 percent the party scored in the last election in 2013.
The conservative party, which is currently led by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, has governed Bavaria almost continuously since 1946.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) was also bracing for one of its poorest displays in years, with the recent poll showing support for Social Democrats dropped to 10 percent from 20.6 percent five years ago.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was expected to score record gains on Sunday and enter Bavarian parliament for the first time.
Tuesday’s poll showed that support for the anti-immigration and anti-Islam AfD has reached 14 percent.
