German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suffered a heavy defeat after his Social Democratic Party (SPD) were beaten in regional elections on Sunday.

The SPD saw its share of the vote in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein almost halve – from 27.3 percent in the last election in 2017 to 15 percent in exit polls.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – former Chancellor Angela Merkel's party – scored 43 percent, an increase in its vote share of more than 10 percent.

More embarrassingly for Scholz, the SPD was beaten into third place by The Greens.

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The result gives CDU's Daniel Guenther a second term as state premier and his party a major boost ahead of next Sunday's regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

NRW is Germany's most populous state, with polls showing the SPD running neck and neck with the CDU, which holds the seat.

Winning there would give a major boost to Scholz, who has been criticized for what some critics say has been an inconsistent response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A poll commissioned by Der Spiegel in mid-April found 65 percent of Germans did not believe Scholz is a strong leader.

The CDU was ousted from national government in federal elections last year following Merkel's decision to step down from the Chancellorship last year, after 16 years in power.