The premier of the eastern German state of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke, has described the performance of his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Sunday's state elections as a great success. "We have made up ground like never before in the history of our state,

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.

The top candidate for the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) in the eastern German state of Brandenburg described the results of Sunday's election as disappointing. "It's a bitter evening for us as the CDU because we are far below our expectations according to the initial forecasts,