MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, an exit poll showed that Social Democratic Party (SPD), from which Kraft comes, received 30.5 percent of votes, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 34.5 percent.
According to the Rheinische Post newspaper, after the exit polls showed that the SPD had lost the election to the CDU, Kraft first announced resignation as the head of SPD's branch in North Rhine-Westphalia and later reportedly promised to quit her political career.
Kraft became head of the government in 2012, when the SPD won local parliamentary elections and formed a coalition with Alliance 90/The Greens.
