The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to preliminary results, managed to get ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the elections in the federal state of Brandenburg. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
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On Sunday, the federal state of Brandenburg held local parliamentary elections. Throughout the campaign and on the eve of the vote, the SPD was lagging behind Alternative for Germany, but the results give hope that Scholz's party will win over the far right.
The SPD received 30.9% of the vote, while the AfD garnered 29.2%, an unexpected comeback for the Social Democrats after lagging behind the far right throughout the campaign.
This success may provide Scholz with some respite from the intra-party debate over his candidacy for chancellor in the federal elections scheduled for next September, given his current unpopularity with voters,
However, analysts note that this result is unlikely to significantly increase Scholz's or his party's national rating. The popular SPD premier of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woedke, distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticized the federal government's policies.
According to exit polls published by ARD, three-quarters of SPD voters voted not out of conviction but to prevent the AfD from winning. Voter turnout rose to 73%, up from 61% five years ago, ZDF reports.
At the national level, the SPD has only 15% of support, which is significantly lower than the 25.7% the party received in the 2021 federal elections. It is behind the AfD with around 20% and the opposition Conservatives with 32%. Scholz's coalition has been criticized for its ongoing internal disputes and approach to immigration. In the eastern regions of Germany, many voters also have a negative attitude towards supplying weapons to Ukraine to defend against Russian invasion.
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