Not So Grand Coalition

According to early estimates broadcast on public television, the Social Democrats remained the strongest party but lost four percent on their 2003 result to land at about 38 percent.

Voters also shaved four points off Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) result four years ago to give them around 25 percent.

The SPD, led by Mayor Jens Böhrnsen has governed for the past 12 years in Bremen with Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU in a "grand coalition" that mirrors her federal one in Berlin.

Greens, Left Party the real winners

Meanwhile the opposition Greens made a strong showing at 16.5 percent -- making them a potential coalition partner in the smallest of Germany's 16 states. The party is not represented in a single state government and was voted out at the national level in September 2005.

The far-right German People's Union slipped past the post with 2.5 percent in Bremen's sister city Bremerhaven due to a quirk of regional election law, meaning they will return to the legislature with one or two deputies.

And the Left Party, an alliance of former communists and disaffected Social Democrats, scored 8.5 percent, marking the first time it won representation in a west German state legislature.

Poll reflects trouble at federal level

Social Democrat mayor Jens Böhrnsen will return to power in the northern port city but must now decide whether he wants to continue his party's 12-year-old alliance with its traditional rivals, the CDU, or link up with the Greens.

Despite Bremen's small size, with only 490,000 of Germany's estimated 60 million voters, the poll was seen as a test of the country's two main parties and their left-right tie up at the national level.

Merkel has led the uneasy federal coalition consisting of the conservative Christian Union parties and their traditional rivals, the Social Democrats, since November 2005 after an inconclusive general election.

But the Social Democrats have had trouble emerging from the popular Merkel's long shadow.

In Bremen, which is struggling with high unemployment and a mounting public deficit, the grand coalition had begun to fray after over a decade in power.

Merkel said at a campaign rally Saturday that she was irritated Böhrnsen had failed to come out resolutely in favour of a fresh alliance with her conservatives.

"I hold it against him that he has lacked that courage," she said. "We should not accept that."

The race was marked by a fierce debate over Social Democrats' calls for a minimum wage -- an issue that has also divided Merkel's coalition.

Voter turnout hit a record low in the state of 58 percent.