German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives look set to oust the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Sunday, March 22, in a closely watched state election in which the far right also made big gains, according to exit polls. Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) took around 30% of the vote and looks poised to win the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate after 35 years under the SPD, which took 27%, according to two public TV networks' exit polls.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) meanwhile looked set for a record score in western Germany, with around 20%, according to the polls from ARD and ZDF television. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel hailed the result – more than double the insurgent anti-immigration party's score in the state's last elections – as a "great success," in a message on X. The AfD looks set to pose a bigger threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country's ex-communist East.
CDU candidate Gordon Schnieder meanwhile claimed victory and vowed to bring change in the state's education, security, health and economic policy. The CDU had enjoyed a narrow lead in opinion polls over the SPD, their coalition partners at the national level.
