German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a "bitter day" at the Hamburg elections, according to party general secretary.
Infratest exit poll and estimates show support for the centre-right dropped by more than four percentage points to just over 11 per cent - the party's second-worst score ever in a regional vote.
Mr Ziemaik blamed turmoil in the federal party for the party's third-place finish - with Chancellor Merkel's successor having to step down over his involvement with the far-right in Germany's east.
The biggest winners in Sunday's vote marked by high turnout were the progressive, ecologist Greens.
Paul Ziemiak, CDU Secretary General, speaks on the outcome of the Hamburg state elections. Source: Getty Images
The party more than doubled its score to over 24 per cent after climate change shot to the top of Germany's political agenda in 2019.
Greens national co-leader Robert Habeck labelled the result "a great success".
"We have a very challenging situation for democracy in Germany, and the CDU is tied up in its own problems," he said.
Members of the German Greens party, including co-leader Annalena Baerbock and local candidate Katharina Fegebank, react to Hamburg election result. Source: Getty Images Europe
"It will be up to us to give the land direction and trust."
There was good news too for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), with the party securing just over 39 per cent.
A result which means incumbent SPD mayor Peter Tschentscher will likely remain in office as the head of Hamburg's "red-green" coalition.
Peter Tschentscher, lead candidate of the German Social Democrats (SPD). Source: Getty Images Europe
Meanwhile far-right party AfD and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) were both flirting with the five-per cent hurdle needed to enter parliament.
But the far-right party managed to scrape by - with 0.3 per cent of the vote keeping the AfD from being kicked out of parliament for the first time since its founding in 2013.
A stark contrast to other areas of Germany where the AfD have doubled their support, scoring above 20 per cent in several recent state elections, particularly in the former communist east.
With the Greens on the rise and CDU and SPD support eroding, Hamburg's results reflect the broader political picture of fragmentation visible in Germany-wide polls.
Thuringia chaos
Earlier this month, Chancellor Merkel's conservatives were shaken by the apparent alliance of their regional branch in eastern state Thuringia with AfD, voting in an FDP politician as state premier.
The breach of a historic political taboo provoked a nationwide backlash against both the mainstream right-of-centre parties.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, former leader of the German Christian Democrats (CDU). Source: Getty Images Europe
As a result, CDU leader and Merkel's heir apparent Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation, throwing open the question of who will succeed the veteran chancellor following elections next year at the latest.
No island
While Hamburg's political makeup is unusual, events in the final week of campaigning showed that the port city is far from insulated from events in the rest of Germany and Europe.
On Friday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined a massive "Fridays for Future" demonstration in Hamburg attended by around 10,000 people, according to police.
Weekly marches across the country by the school strike movement last year helped force Berlin to raise its climate ambitions and pass a law enforcing the end of coal power generation by 2038.
Meanwhile, both the SPD and the Greens cancelled final campaign events on Thursday, after a racist gunman killed nine people with migrant backgrounds in the city of Hanau.
People from across the political spectrum have slammed AfD in the wake of the killings, highlighting similarities between its politicians' anti-migrant rhetoric and the words of the gunman in a rambling "manifesto" he is believed to have posted online.
Mourners attend a vigil to remember the victims killed in a racist driven attack in Hanau, Germany, Source: AFP
