Germany's far-right AfD leads race in north-east state, exit poll shows

​Germany's AfD ​was projected to ‌win the ​most votes in the northeastern ‌state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the far-right party ‌is unlikely to govern as ‌other parties rule out working with it. The exit poll, conducted for public ⁠broadcaster ​ARD, ⁠showed the AfD at 37.0% and the ⁠governing centre-right Social Democrats at 35.5%.

Chancellor ​Friedrich Merz's CDU slumped to ⁠5.5% of the vote, its worst result ⁠in ​any state election since 1949. With the threshold set ⁠at 5%, it remained unclear whether ⁠the ⁠party would secure seats in the state parliament.