The state's incumbent leader, Social Democrat Stephan Weil, is polling slightly ahead of his conservative rival. But Berlin's energy policy could sway voters more than state issues.
Germans in the coastal state of Lower Saxony headed to the polls Sunday in a closely-watched regional election seen as a test for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats amid an acute energy crisis.
A major German state is voting in an election that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left party hopes will bring some relief from poor recent nationwide poll showings as the country faces high inflation and worries about energy supplies this winter. Around 6.1 million voters were eligible to elect the state legislature in Lower Saxony, which occupies a large swath of northwestern Germany. Recent polls there have shown Scholz’s Social Democrats a few points ahead of the center-right Christian Democrats, the main opposition party at the national level. They also expect gains on Sunday both for the environmentalist Greens, the second-biggest party in Germany's national government, and for the far-right Alternative for Germany, amid worries about energy and high inflation.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party won a German state election Sunday in which the environmentalist Greens and the far-right made gains as the country faces high inflation and worries about energy supplies this winter, projections showed.
Social Democrats, the party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have emerged as the strongest force in regional elections in the state of Lower Saxony. The environmentalist Greens and the far-right AfD also made gains.