Germans in the state of Brandenburg were voting in a regional election on Sunday with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) expected to finish first, building on successes in other eastern states and beating Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in one of their traditional strongholds.

After a string of bitterly disappointing elections, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) finally have something to celebrate after winning Sunday's vote in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Brandenburg is a longstanding stronghold for the party. But it is located in Germany’s relatively impoverished east, where the anti-immigrant A f D performs far better than in the west. That made this election a test of whether the SPD could beat the populists on its home ground.

STORY: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appears to have fended off a far right victory in his home state on Sunday.Early exit polls showed Sholz's Social Democrats (SDP) scored almost 31% of the vote in the Brandburg state election over Alternative for Germany (AfD),

Germans in the state of Brandenburg were voting in a regional election on Sunday with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) expected to finish first, building on successes in other eastern states and beating Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in one of their traditional strongholds.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD narrowly beat the far-right Alternative for Germany in the Brandenburg election, seen as a referendum on his leadership.

The leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party has sought to squash questions about his candidacy in next year’s national election after narrowly beating the far right in a regional vote.

How much of what we saw in Brandenburg over the weekend was a vote of confidence in the SPD, or was it more a kind of pushing away of the AfD? How are you interpreting it? Yeah. So listen, I mean, when the when you look at the actual results here,

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats will seek coalition talks with upstart left party BSW, as working with the far-right runner-up AfD has been ruled out. Follow DW for more.

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.