German Social Democrats win state elections in Saarland

BERLIN (AA) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) scored a landslide victory on Sunday in regional polls in the small western state of Saarland.

Led by Anke Rehlinger, the most popular politician in the region, the SPD has won 43.4% of the vote, a 13.8% jump compared to 2017, according to projections by public broadcaster ARD.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a huge loss but still managed to win 28.1%, down from 40.7% five years ago.

The environmentalist, pro-immigration Green Party came in third with 5.2%.

Projections showed the Islamophobic, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning 5.7% of the vote, slightly less than its showing in the previous elections.

The socialist Left Party (Die Linke) got its worst result in nearly two decades, with just 2.6% of the vote, below the 5% threshold needed to enter the state parliament.