Germany: SPD claims victory in Brandenburg election, AfD prospects remain high
BERLIN – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) secured enough votes to win Sunday’s regional election, but it cannot be regarded as a landslide victory.
The centre-left SPD received 30.9% of the votes, maintaining their rule over the eastern state of Brandenburg, where Scholz has his own constituency.
Although the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) did not secure another victory, it achieved 29.2% of the votes, according to provisional official results from the State Electoral Commissioner. This places it just 1.7% behind the SPD.
Additionally, the AfD was up 5.7 percentage points since the last Brandenburg election five years ago. Earlier this month, it became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II.
