Scholz’s Social Democrats seen winning state vote in Germany

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Projections show Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left party winning a German state election in which the environmentalist Greens and the far-right made gains as the country faces high inflation and worries about energy supplies this winter. Scholz’s Social Democrats, whose nationwide polling has been weak recently as the government grapples with ways to keep down Germans’ energy bills, had a respected longtime governor to thank for their performance in Lower Saxony. The sprawling northwestern state of nearly 8 million people has strong industrial and agricultural sectors. Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, showed the Social Democrats leading with around 33% of the vote and the center-right Christian Democrats, polling around 28%.