Story highlights Race against Martin Schulz's SPD was expected to be much tighter

Analyst: Result will be a boost for Merkel but state is too small to draw conclusions

(CNN) German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party has comfortably won an election in the small southwestern state of Saarland -- a vote seen as a bellwether for the national election in September.

Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) won 40.7% of Sunday's vote, a solid 5.5% increase on four years ago and a convincing win over the center-left Social Democrat Party (SPD,) which only took 29.6%, according to CNN affiliate ARD.

Supporters of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) react after exit poll results in Saarland were announced on March 26, 2017.

The Saarland elections were widely viewed as a test for the SPD's new leader, former EU Parliament President Martin Schulz, whose criticism of US President Donald Trump's policies appeared to be playing well with voters.

The polls had anticipated a much tighter race between the SPD and CDU.

However, Berlin University political scientist, Oskar Niedermayer, told ARD that Saarland is too small a state to draw direct conclusions from for the upcoming national elections.

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