.png?locale=en)
.jpg?locale=en)
Alsharq Tribune-AFD
A week after a historic low at national polls, the Social Democrats (SPD) of Germany's largely unpopular caretaker Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought solace in a victory in a regional election in the northern city of Hamburg on Sunday.
A first projection from electoral officials put Scholz's SPD on top at 33.7% (down from 39.2% in 2020), followed by the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) at 20.3% (up from 11.2%) and the Greens at 17.9% (down from 24.2%).
Scholz's SPD was dealt its worst result in 138 years in federal elections last week, relegated to third place behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The conservative bloc of the CDU and Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) meanwhile came out on top.
Scholz - who was himself once mayor of Hamburg - congratulated incumbent Mayor Peter Tschentscher on social media from a Ukraine defence summit in London, saying Hamburg was staying in "good hands."
Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen. Long an SPD stronghold, is home to some 1.9 million people and the country's biggest sea port.
The outcome now looks set to enable another centre-left coalition between the SPD and the Greens, who have together governed the northern port city for the past five years.
Speaking after exit polls indicated another SPD win in Hamburg, Tschentscher - who leads the current alliance with the Greens - said he would speak to both his current coalition partners as well as the CD
Echoing nationwide polls, both parties on the far left and far right did well in Hamburg. Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Tino Chrupalla, whose party last week doubled its share of the national vote to reach 20.8%, declared his party's projected 8.3% (up from 5.3%) in Hamburg a "huge success."
The Left, which surged to a surprise 8.7% in last week's national election, was meanwhile set to take 11.2%. "The comeback continues," party leader Jan van Aken said after exit polls came in
