Wiesbaden, Germany  - Roland Koch, a key supporter of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was re-elected premier of the German state of Hesse on Thursday after winning a state poll last month.

After a political impasse a year ago, Koch had run the state at the head of a minority, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) government. Voters handed the CDU and the small, pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) a majority of 66 legislative seats in January.

In Thursday's secret ballot in the 117-seat state legislature in Wiesbaden, Koch won only 62 votes, with 52 against, one vote spoiled and two votes blank and therefore not counted at all.

Analysts said at least one person in the ranks of his coalition must have voted against Koch. The leader of the opposition Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel said this showed Koch was off to a bad start.

One of the Koch government's main projects will be expanding Frankfurt International Airport, a major employer in Hesse.

Nationally, Koch ranks as deputy chairman of the CDU. The FDP, which was awarded three of the 10 ministries in the Hesse government, hopes to ally with the CDU to form Germany's next federal government after a general election this September. dpa