For the second time in three weeks, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has received a significant percentage of the votes at a state election in eastern Germany. The far-right party won 30 percent of the votes in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin. Given the polls going into Sunday, the AfD might even be disappointed that it did not place first, rather than second behind the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Even though the SPD won by a slight margin, the pressure on the federal government led by Olaf Scholz and the Social Democrats may increase further in the coming weeks. In the…