German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party CDU stands in front of her election campaign tour bus before a CDU board meeting in Berlin September 16, 2013. Merkel's allies of the Bavarian Christian Social Union party CSU swept to victory in a state election in Bavaria on Sunday, regaining the absolute assembly majority they lost in 2008 and providing a show of conservative strength for the chancellor a week before Germany goes to the polls. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)