Germany's far-right AfD wins first state election, polls show

If confirmed, this would also be a severe blow for Scholz's Social Democrats and the other parties in his divided coalition government, the Greens and the liberal FDP.

The SPD is likely to have achieved between 6.5 and 7 percent in Thuringia and between 7.5 and 8.5 percent in Saxony.

AfD leader Alice Weidel described the result as a “historic success,” while the party’s other leader, Tino Chrupalla, gave the party a “clear mandate to govern” in Thuringia.

Chrupalla said that both federal states had sent a signal that “there should be political change” and that the AfD was “ready and willing to talk to all parties”.

Björn Höcke, the controversial state chairman of the AfD in Thuringia, told ARD that his party was the “People’s Party of Thuringia”.

“We need change, and that will only happen with the AfD,” he said, praising the “historic result.”

Hoecke is one of Germany's most controversial right-wing extremist politicians and was fined twice this year for deliberately using a banned Nazi slogan.

The exit polls also showed a good night for the BSW, a new party founded by the fiery politician Sahra Wagenknecht after she left the far-left party Die Linke.

According to the surveys, the BSW achieved between 14.5 and 16 percent in Thuringia and between 11.5 and 12 percent in Saxony.

In the European elections in June, the party was able to record an immediate success: it received around six percent of the German vote.

The refusal of other parties to cooperate with the AfD potentially makes the BSW the kingmaker in Thuringia and Saxony, despite serious political disagreements with potential partners, especially on the Ukraine issue.

Scholz's coalition partners, the Greens and the FDP, experienced a sobering election in both federal states and even performed worse than the SPD.

The government responded to the alarm bells by announcing stricter knife controls and regulations for migrants living illegally in Germany.

Saxony is the most populous of the former East German states and has been a conservative stronghold since reunification.

Thuringia, on the other hand, is more rural and the only federal state currently governed by the far-right party “Die Linke”, a successor party to the communist party of East Germany.

The state was an early center of support for the Nazi Party, which first took power there in 1930 as part of a coalition government.

Elections are also expected in Brandenburg, a third former East German state, at the end of September. According to polls, the AfD is ahead there with around 24 percent.

The AfD was founded in 2013 as an anti-euro group before morphing into an anti-immigration party. Since then, it has taken advantage of the fractious three-party coalition in Berlin and gained ground in the opinion polls.

In the European elections in June, the party achieved a record 15.9 percent overall. It did particularly well in eastern Germany, where it emerged as the strongest force.