There is only certainty on Sunday evening.

But if the opinion polls are not completely wrong, then the CDU, especially in Baden-Württemberg, doesn't just have to be prepared for a few bitter days or weeks.

Rather, it lies ahead of one of the darkest phases in its history.

The ballot box, which was supposed to end with the reconquest of the State Chancellery from the Greens, threatens to turn into a catastrophe.

The shock waves are likely to wander as far as Berlin and Düsseldorf, where CDU leader Armin Laschet will try to become a candidate for chancellor after Easter.