Exit polls in Brandenburg, where a battle between the Social Democrats and the far-right Alternative for Germany was expected to take place, show a lead for the SPD.

In particular, the results from the exit polls outside the polling stations in the German state give the SPD 31 percent and the AfD 30 percent.

At lower levels are the Christian Democrats (CDU) with 12% and Zara Wackenknecht’s newest party, which took 12%, just a few months after its founding.

At 5% are the Greens, who are struggling to get into parliament.

On the other hand, the Liberals are out, as is the Left Party (Die Linke).

Meanwhile, a second poll outside the polls gives the SPD 32 percent and the AfD 29 percent.

The BSW in Wageningen is at 12%, the CDU at 11.5% and the Greens out of parliament at 4.5%.

Turnout was clearly better than in the previous election in 2019. By 14:00 (local time) 46% of registered voters had voted, compared to 31.9% in the previous poll.

Many voted by mail, including Brandenburg resident Olaf Scholz, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly.

Forming a government the next day will be difficult. Pre-election parties had ruled out cooperation with the AfD.

It will be recalled that in early September in two other states in the eastern part of Germany, Thuringia and Saxony, the AfD had recorded impressive results, winning in Thuringia and finishing second by a narrow margin in the other state.