Alternative for Germany (AfD) has claimed more that 33% of the votes in Thuringia, according to exit polls
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) appears to be on course to win its first state election since the right-wing party’s establishment in 2013.
According to exit polls by broadcaster ZDF, the AfD has claimed 33.5% of the vote in Sunday’s legislative election in the state of Thuringia in the eastern part of Germany.
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is expected to come in second, with 24.5% of the ballots.
The two parties were also neck-in-neck in the neighboring state of Saxony, with CDU and AfD claiming 32% and 31.5% of the vote, respectively.
None of the members of Germany’s ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition – the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens – were able to make it to the top three in either of the states.