STORY: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appears to have fended off a far right victory in his home state on Sunday.Early exit polls showed Sholz's Social Democrats (SDP) scored almost 31% of the vote in the Brandburg state election over Alternative for Germany (AfD),

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.

An exit poll released after voting ended in a state election in Brandenburg, Germany on Sunday showed the Social Democrats with a slight edge over a growing right-wing party. The voting took place three weeks after the party made gains in two other states in eastern Germany.