GERMANY-VOTE

The top candidate of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Bernd Althusmann (C), walks past Lower Saxony's State Premier Stephan Weil (R) of the Social democratic SPD party and host Bettina Schausten during a television debate on the election results of the northwestern federal state of Lower Saxony at a public television studio in Hanover on October 15, 2017. In the state vote in Lower Saxony, home of Volkswagen, Martin Schulz's Social Democrats (SPD) clinched 37 to 37.5 percent of the vote, followed by Merkel's CDU at 35 percent, according to early results reported by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Christian Charisius (Photo credit should read CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/AFP via Getty Images)