Early projections of European election results in Germany indicate a poor performance of the country's governing coalition and a significant rise in support for its centrist and right-wing political opposition.
Germany's conservative main opposition, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) — part of the EPP group in the European Parliament — are predicted to comfortably finish in first place with 29.5% of the vote.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's "traffic light coalition" has slumped, with Scholz's SPD party gaining only 14%, a decrease from the 15.9% it reached in 2019.
For the Greens, who make up the second-biggest party in the coalition, support is expected to drop dramatically from 20.5% in 2019 to just 12%, estimates by ARD and ZDF indicate. The FDP is predicted to reach just 5%.
The largest member state in Europe’s 27-nation bloc, Germany holds 96 seats in the European Parliament.
AfD survives series of scandals
Meanwhile, AfD is expected to increase its share of the vote to over 16%, compared to 11% in 2019.
Although the result is lower than predicted at the start of the year, AfD's rise in support comes despite facing numerous scandals in the run-up to the elections.
Voters remain apparently undeterred from voting for the far-right party, which has been accused in major scandals throughout the year, ranging from espionage involving Russia and China and plans to deport naturalised German citizens to its leaders mimicking Nazi-era slogans during their campaign marches.
In May, the AfD were expelled from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, German newcomer the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) will take 6% of the vote, exit polls predict.
Although the party was founded just this January, the BSW was founded by prominent former Die Linke politician Sahra Wagenknecht.
The conservative-left party combines a more economic policy with a tough stance on migration and opposition to sending weapons to Ukraine. Prior to the elections, analysts expected the BSW to even go as far as to take away votes from AfD.
