(CNN)A far-right party scored its strongest-ever results in two key state elections in eastern Germany on Sunday, finishing second behind the country’s major parties on the same day that Europe marked the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland.
The anti-immigrant Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party finished second in Saxony to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), and second in Brandenburg to the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
The results represent a blow to Merkel’s ruling coalition with the SPD, and will be viewed as a victory for the AfD, which took 27.5% of votes in Saxony and 23.5% in Brandenburg — a significant increase on state elections five years ago, with the party almost tripling its share in Saxony and doubling it in Brandenburg.
