Brandenburg's vote on September 22 was the third and final state election in Eastern Germany this month, following crucial votes in Saxony and Thur

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD narrowly beat the far-right Alternative for Germany in the Brandenburg election, seen as a referendum on his leadership.

Germany's Social Democrats won in the eastern state of Brandenburg, pushing out the far-right AfD in a tightly contested race.

By Sarah Marsh BERLIN (Reuters) -Polls opened on Sunday in the German state of Brandenburg, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to finish first, aiming to build on recent successes in other eastern states and surpass Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in this traditional stronghold.

German voters head to regional elections on Sunday in a formerly communist eastern state where the far-right AfD party is narrowly ahead in the polls. In the state election in Brandenburg, the AfD hopes to replicate the strong gains it made in the east three weeks ago when it won a parliamentary vote in Thuringia and came a close second in Saxony.