Andreas Baum, top candidate of his Pirate Party for state elections in Berlin, is seen on September 18, 2011 in Berlin, after exit polls were published. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition suffered a major blow in Berlin's state vote, weakening her politically as Europe looks to her to fight its debt crisis. Merkel's conservatives were beaten into second place by the opposition Social Democrats, while her coalition partners, the Free Democrats, failed to scrape over the five-percent hurdle needed to enter the state parliament. A major success story of the election was the spectacular rise of the Pirate Party, which secured its first-ever parliamentary representation in one of Germany's 16 states, winning 8.6 percent of the vote. AFP PHOTO SOEREN STACHE GERMANY OUT