Scholz’s SPD narrowly ahead of far right in east German state: Projections
Al Jazeera
Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats likely to win 31 percent of the vote in Brandenburg, a slight lead over AfD at 29 percent, projections show.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has narrowly beaten the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a local election in the east German state of Brandenburg, initial projections show.
Scholz’s centre-left SPD won around 31 percent against the anti-immigration and anti-Islam AfD, which scored about 29 percent, according to the projections by public broadcasters on Sunday.
The result in the formerly communist east offers a rare moment of respite for Scholz’s embattled coalition government, which has sunk in opinion polls a year ahead of national elections.
It is unlikely, however, to give him or his party a major boost given that popular, incumbent SPD premier Hubert Dietmar Woidke has distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticised the federal government’s policies.
The election in Brandenburg was closely watched because Scholz’s SPD has ruled there ever since Germany’s 1990 reunification. The chancellor’s own electoral district is in the state capital Potsdam, outside Berlin.
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