A CDU alliance with the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia could pave the way for something similar at federal level after the 2013 election.

基民盟与绿党在北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚州的结盟，将为2013年大选后两党在国家层面上的结盟铺平道路。

youdao

The North Rhine-Westphalia election will not settle the matter, but it will give Mrs Merkel's government its first firm indication of whether it is on the right track.

北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚州的选举解决不了这些问题，但可以首次给默克尔一个稳定的信号来确定一切是否步入正轨。

youdao

Voters in North Rhine-Westphalia will then decide whether to punish Mrs Merkel.

北威州的选民届时会决定要不要惩罚梅克尔女士。

youdao

He also has a powerful base as party chairman in North-Rhine-Westphalia, the country's most populous state, where the most crucial of all the regional elections is due next May.

ECONOMIST: Schr?der thumped

And the Christian Democrats no longer seem so confident of continuing their string of electoral successes next spring, when they had been hoping to wrest control of both Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from the Social Democrats.

ECONOMIST: Germany

Investigations into all waste-disposal contracts in North-Rhine Westphalia over the past decade have already turned up other cases of suspected malfeasance in towns run by the Social Democrats.

ECONOMIST: Corruption in Germany