Olaf Scholz’s SPD appears to have made late comeback after trailing far-right party throughout Brandenburg campaign
party appears to have narrowly missed out on victory in an election in the German state of Brandenburg, according to exit polls, three weeks after making historic gains in two other regions.ahead of next autumn’s general election, his Social Democratic party appeared at the 11th hour to have clawed back its lead over the anti-immigrant populists who had been on course for months to seize victory in the state for the first time.
All eyes had been on Brandenburg, which is population-wise one of Germany’s smallest states, after strong showings for the AfD earlier this month in Thuringia, where they came top with about 33%, and in Saxony, where they came a narrow second behind the conservative CDU with 27.5%. At the party’s headquarters, the Willy Brandt house in Berlin, its general secretary, Kevin Kühnert, said it was too early for “feelings of relief … it’ll take several hours to get the full results, which is why I’m holding back”.
It appeared to have secured every third vote in the state “despite a campaign of agitation and slander” against the AfD, he said, calling the result a “consolidation of support”. On Telegram channels, supporters spoke of a “close race” and said the “firewall” established by the mainstream parties who had refused to coalesce with it would be hard to maintain as it continued to grow in strength.
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