Co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Tino Chrupalla has described his party's result in the European elections as "historic."
According to exit polls shortly after 6 pm (1600 GMT) on Sunday, the AfD came in second place with around 16-16.5% of the vote, compared to 11% in 2019, also beating Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats.
"We have achieved a super result, and I think it will go even higher in the course of the evening. So we won't be giving up second place today," Chrupalla said.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel spoke of a "super result."
A few months ago, the party was polling at more than 20%. But the AfD's support figures fell significantly in the wake of large demonstrations in January and February following reports of a secret right-wing meeting in Potsdam. The meeting centred on so-called remigration. More recent scandals involving the AfD's top EU candidates Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron have also affected their standing.
Both Krah and Bystron are alleged to have possible links to Russia, and in Krah's case also to China.