Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, is struggling to hold his coalition government together after what he described as a “bitter” victory for the radical right in the eastern state of Thuringia.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, after a campaign spearheaded by the unapologetically ethno-nationalist Björn Höcke, won 32.8 per cent of the vote on Sunday. AfD was more than nine points ahead of its closest rival.
It was the first time a hard-right party had come first in an election at this level since the Nazi era.
