BERLIN, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, suffered a great loss in Sunday's state election in Hesse, according to the initial forecast by the public broadcaster ARD.

The CDU was reduced to 28 percent of the votes, a sharp decline from the 38.3 percent in the previous election.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD), CDU's governing partner in the federal government, got 20 percent, also downed from its 30.7 percent five years ago.

The centrist Greens enjoyed a leap, securing 19.5 percent of the ballots while the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) got 12 percent.

The regional election was closely watched and often stylized into a national trend by local media, since the coalition government in Berlin is already shaky.