Supporters of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) react after exit polls of the state vote in Hesse, western Germany, were published on January 18, 2009 in Wiesbaden. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU with Hesse's top candidate Roland Koch trounced the centre-left SPD in the vote, exit polls indicated, kicking off a super election year forecast to give her a second term. The FDP, the CDU's preferred coalition partners both in Hesse and at national level, saw the biggest increase in their share of the vote, soaring between seven and eight points to around 16-17 percent, the polls given on public television showed. AFP PHOTO DDP/TORSTEN SILZ GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read TORSTEN SILZ/AFP/Getty Images)