BERLIN, Sept 22 (Reuters): The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is predicted to come first in an election in Brandenburg on Sunday, seeking to build on gains in other eastern states this month and beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in a traditional stronghold.
The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War Two, in Thuringia, on Sept 1 and just missed first place in Saxony. It is one of several far-right groups in Europe capitalising on worries over an economic slowdown, immigration and the Ukraine war - concerns that are particularly strong in formerly Communist-run eastern Germany.
The party, which is unlikely to be able to govern because it is polling short of a majority and other parties would refuse to work with it, is also seeking to gain from discontent over infighting in Scholz's three-party federal coalition.
"We urgently need a thorough course correction so the country does not go to the dogs," the AfD's lead candidate in Brandenburg, Hans-Christoph Berndt, said at a campaign event earlier this month.
An AfD victory in the state election would be a particular embarrassment for the Social Democrats (SPD), which has won elections in Brandenburg and governed the state of 2.5 million people since reunification in 1990. It would also raise further questions about the suitability of Scholz, the least popular German chancellor on record, to lead the party into next year's election.
Brandenburg's popular SPD premier Dietmar Woidke has mostly shunned campaigning with Scholz, who lives in the state's capital, Potsdam. In an unusual move, Woidke has also criticised the behaviour and policies of the ruling coalition.
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