Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party said Monday it sees no need for changes to the German leader's often-criticized approach to the war in Ukraine after an election in Germany's most populous state brought a clear defeat for his center-left Social Democrats.
Germany's main opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, took 35.7% of the vote to win Sunday's election in North Rhine-Westphalia state, home to nearly 18 million people. It finished nine points ahead of Scholz's Social Democrats, despite expectations of a closer race in what was long a center-left stronghold.
