BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) managed to fend off the far-right AfD in a state election in Brandenburg on Sunday after trailing behind the party throughout the campaign, according to exit polls.
The SPD, which has governed the state surrounding the capital Berlin since reunification in 1990, scored 32% of the vote, ahead of the Alternative for Germany on 29%, in a last minute comeback, according to the exit poll by broadcaster ZDF.
The success for the SPD could give Scholz a slight reprieve from party discussions about his suitability to be once more be its chancellor candidate for next year’s federal elections.
It is unlikely however to give him or his party a major boost given the popular, incumbent SPD premier Dietmar Woidke had distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticized the federal government’s policies.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Writing by Sarah Marsh, Editing by Rachel More)