Germany's anti-euro party AfD makes big leap in state elections: exit polls

Germany's anti-euro party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has taken big strides forward in Sunday's regional parliament elections in German states of Thuringia and Brandenburg, according to predictions of German television ARD.

Results of exit polls showed the AfD had gained 10.2 percent of the vote in Thuringia and 11.9 percent support in Brandenburg, meaning it has won a place in the parliaments of both states for the first time.

The AfD, the newest arrival on Germany's political landscape, was set up early last year. Only a few months after it was founded at the height of the euro debt crisis, the party narrowly missed out on entering the country's parliament in general elections last year.

At the European elections in May, the AfD scored 6.5 percent of the vote in Germany and thus managed to leap into the European Parliament. Two weeks ago, the party was elected to the regional parliament in another German state, Saxony.

In the centrally located state of Thuringia, the governing party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrats (CDU), won the most votes with 33.7 percent, according to ARD predictions.

However, they may let lose the leadership of the state if their junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), switch sides.

Pre-election talk was of the possibility of the Left party, which came second on 28.2 percent, forming an alliance with the third-placed SPD on 12.6 percent and the Greens, who just made it over the 5 percent threshold on 5.9 percent.

In the eastern state of Brandenburg, the government looks to remain the same, with the SPD winning 32.2 percent of the vote and likely to continue with the Left party, which won 18.8 percent, as junior partners. The CDU came out with 22.7 percent of the vote.