POTSDAM, Germany (AP) 鈥� The Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz won an election in the eastern German state of Brandenburg on Sunday, gaining a narrow edge over a growing far-right party, according to the vote count. The vote took place three weeks after the far right made gains in eastern Germany.
According to final results published Sunday evening by the state electoral administration, the Social Democrats won 30.9% of the votes in the election to the parliament of Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin. The far-right Alternative for Germany was a close second with 29.2%.
A new leftist movement, the , or BSW, came in third with 13.5% while the center-right Christian Democrats took 12.1%
The first-place showing for the Social Democrats brought a reprieve to the beleaguered Scholz, whose three-party governing coalition has fared poorly in elections so far this year.
The Social Democrats have governed Brandenburg continuously since German reunification in 1990, and a loss there would have been a major setback for Scholz, who has his constituency in the state capital, Potsdam.
Scholz has said he would like to be the party's candidate for chancellor in next fall's federal election, and Sunday's vote was also being watched for what it might signal about his political future.
鈥淚t's great that we won,鈥� Scholz said from New York, where he was attending a meeting at the United Nations, according to the German dpa news agency.
But the success of the Social Democrats in Brandenburg 鈥� after defeats elsewhere 鈥� was largely credited not to Scholz, but to the efforts of the popular state governor, Dietmar Woidke.
He distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and took the gamble of promising to resign in case of a win by the far right.
He was able to celebrate his political survival on Sunday night.
鈥淚t is an important victory for me, it鈥檚 an important victory for my party, and it鈥檚 an important victory for the state of Brandenburg," Woidke said after polls closed.
But he also said he felt the strong showing of the far-right party means there is work to do.
鈥淭hey (the AFD) have achieved about 30 percent, a lot of voters have voted for the AFD, and that鈥檚 too much. So we have to think about these results and we have to make our policies better," Woidtke told The Associated Press.
The far-right party has gained support amid a growing backlash against large-scale migration to Germany over the past decade and recent extremist attacks. Germany鈥檚 economy, once a powerhouse, has been weakening, adding to a general feeling of malaise.
Sunday鈥檚 vote followed a heated election campaign centered on the issues of migration, internal security and peace. Both the far right and the new leftist movement want to end weapons deliveries to Kyiv as Ukraine tries to defend itself against Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion.
The Alternative for Germany in the state of Thuringia and also did well in Saxony in elections held on Sept. 1. The new party on the left, the BSW, also made a strong impact, while the parties in Scholz鈥檚 obtained extremely weak results 鈥� as they did again on Sunday in Brandenburg.
The vote in Thuringia marked the first electoral victory for a far-right party in Germany since World War II. It triggered concerns in Germany and abroad about the growing support for the extreme right in Germany, a NATO member and the largest European Union country.
Towards the end of voting on Sunday afternoon, a group of anti-AfD protesters gathered near a restaurant where the far-right party鈥檚 supporters gathered to learn of the election results.
Their chanting and the sound of whistles sought to disrupt the party. One carried a placard saying 鈥淎fD is so 1933,鈥� referencing the year Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power.
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Associated Press writer David Keyton contributed from Potsdam.
Fanny Brodersen, The Associated Press
