State loss a blow to Merkel, but far from decisive

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says a state election loss months before a national vote was painful — but she’s downplaying the implications for her quest for a third term.

Merkel stressed Monday she still aims to win a new four-year term for the center-right coalition of her conservatives and their struggling junior partners, the Free Democrats.

Germany’s center-left opposition ejected those parties from the government of Lower Saxony state Sunday by a wafer-thin margin. It was one of the last major tests before national parliamentary elections, due in September.

Lower Saxony’s conservative governor lost his job despite his personal popularity — and surveys show Merkel herself is much more popular than her coalition with the pro-market Free Democrats.