Exit polls: Far right surges in eastern Germany elections, falls short of majority – WaPo

The Washington Post (WaPo) reports the latest updates on Sunday’s German state elections. Brandenburg and Saxony voted to elect representatives for their state legislatures.

The preliminary results (exit polls) released early Monday showed a surge in support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, it came in second in both states.

Additional Details:

“Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union won 32.1 percent of the vote in Saxony; AfD took 27.5 percent.

The Social Democratic Party, the Christian Democrats’ center-left coalition partner in the national parliament, won 26.2 percent in Brandenburg; AfD took 23. 5 percent.

The results weren’t as bad for Germany’s traditional parties as they had feared, but still showed a significant shift to the far right, which drew out new voters in an election with greater-than-usual turnout. 

The drop in support could complicate their efforts to form a ruling coalition. The major parties having ruled out forming coalitions with the AfD.” 

The shared currency remains unperturbed by the state election exit polls, as it remains unmotivated near 1.0990 region so far this Monday.