POTSDAM: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz`s Social Democrats were narrowly ahead of the far-right AfD on Sunday in a state election in the formerly communist east, according to exit polls.

Scholz`s centre-left SPD won 31 to 32 per cent of the vote, a slight lead over the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, which scored 29 to 30pc according to exit polls by the two main public broadcasters.

If confirmed, the result would offer a rare moment of respite for Scholz`s embattled coalition government that has taken a dive in opinion polls a year ahead of national elections.

The polls in Brandenburg state have been closely watched because Scholz`s SPD has ruled there ever since Germany`s 1990 reunification and because the chancellor`s electoral district is in the state capital Potsdam, outside Berlin.

The AfD, which rails against asylum-seekers, multiculturalism, Islam and Scholz`s government, had hoped to replicate its recent electoral success in the east.

Three weeks ago, it stunned the political establishment by taking first place in a parliamentary vote, for the first time ever, in the eastern state of Thuringia and coming a close second in neighbouring Saxony.-AFP