Irish Examiner view: Germany's SPD did not quite get a ringing endorsement in Brandenburg

What was widely regarded as a referendum on Olaf Scholz’s federal government turned out to be a two-point win for his SPD party

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD ultimately clawed back enough votes to prevent the anti-immigration AfD from seizing victory, although gains they have made are a still a worry for the traditional centrist parties. Picture: Michael Probst/AP

Snapshot elections can often provide ruling governments with unwelcome and hard-to-swallow results and there were huge expectations in Germany at the weekend that the Brandenburg state vote would deliver just that to chancellor Olaf Scholz’s incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Grim predictions of a massive surge in electoral support for the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) far-right grouping proved to be close to the mark, but the SPD ultimately clawed back enough votes to prevent the anti-immigration party seizing victory.