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.

Senftenberg, Brandenburg, Germany - Recent The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is projected to win the most votes in Brandenburg after building on gains in other eastern states this month, while looking to beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats,

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%.