The ruling SPD has just scraped by in a critical electoral test, but a closer look at the numbers show trouble for next year's elections.

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.

The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War Two, in Thuringia, on Sept. 1 and just missed first place in Saxony

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) appear headed for a narrow election victory over the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, according to initial projected results.

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

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats will seek coalition talks with upstart left party BSW, as working with the far-right runner-up AfD has been ruled out. Follow DW for more.