Exit polls suggest breakthrough for German far-right party

Voters in booths for the state election in Thuringia (Martin Schutt/AP)

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, was on track to become the strongest party in a state election for the first time on Sunday in the country’s east, and was roughly level with mainstream conservatives in a second vote, exit polls showed.

A new party founded by a prominent leftist was also making an immediate impact, while the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national government were set for weak results.