Regional election in Thuringia: a "bitter result" for Angela Merkel's party Lukewarm applause greets the announcement of the results of the Chancellor's Conservative Party (CDU) in the regional election in the ex-communist eastern state of Thuringia. Their leader Mike Mohring acknowledges a "bitter result" as his party garnered about 22 percent of the vote, their worst score in this region since German reunification in 1990, behind the far-right party AfD. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES