POTSDAM: Polls opened on Sunday morning for some 2.1 million eligible voters in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, reported German news agency (dpa).
All eyes are on whether the far right will secure the most support for the second time in a month, or if the Social Democrats (SPD) will come out on top.
The SPD is the party of the beleaguered Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but also of Brandenburg’s popular state leader, Dietmar Woidke.
Brandenburg is the only state in former East Germany to be continually ruled since 1990 by the SPD, although it has governed in coalitions with different parties.
The AfD is classified by the domestic intelligence agency in Brandenburg as a suspected right-wing extremist group.
A poll released on Thursday by public broadcaster ZDF showed the AfD at 28 per cent, with the SPD pulling 27 per cent of the vote.
It showed the Christian Democrats (CDU), which are the main opposition party on the federal level, winning 14 per cent in Brandenburg while a new populist party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) stood at 13 per cent.
In principle, polls only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey and are not a forecast of the election outcome.
- Bernama, dpa
