German State Elections: How Brandenburg & Saxony Voted

Germany held two key state elections on Sunday with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surging in Brandenburg and Saxony. Despite the AfD's success, it did not manage to oust the ruling coalitions in both states. Shunned by Germany's other political parties, the AfD recorded its biggest surge in Saxony where it gained 17.8 percentage points compared to 2013. That wasn't enough to beat Angela Merkel's CDU which came first with 32 percent compared to the AfD's 27.5 percent.

In Brandenburg, it accounted for 23.5 percent of the vote while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won with 26.2 percent. The other parties in Brandenburg and Saxony will now discuss forming new coalitions, excluding the AfD. Support for the far-right party climbed dramatically after Merkel admitted nearly one million non-EU migrants to Germany in 2015 while it has been bolstered by frustration in the former DDR over business closures and high levels of unemployment.