Scholz's coalition suffers defeat at EU polls in Germany: exit polls
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's troubled coalition suffered Sunday a stinging defeat at the European elections, with all three parties in his government coming in behind the conservatives and the far right, exit polls showed.
Scholz's Social Democrats garnered its worse result in history at 14 percent, trailing second place AfD at between 16 and 16.5 percent, and well behind the conservative CDU-CSU bloc's 29.5 percent, according to exit polls published by national broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
Scholz's coalition partners Greens recorded just 12-12.5 percent while the liberal FDP won five percent.
READ ALSO: Scholz's coalition suffers route at EU polls in GermanyÂ
German states go to vote in local elections
Sunday wasn't just about the European elections, though, voters in several German states were also voting in local elections on Sunday.
The results of various council elections are pending in Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
The results in Brandenburg and Saxony are always watched with keen interest as they're seen as a barometer for the September state elections.
And, in Thuringia, run-off elections were being held in 15 districts for the district administrator positions after these districts failed to reach a majority two weeks ago. AfD candidates were running in nine of these districts.
In June last year, the AfD won the first district administrator post for the party nationwide in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg.
Final results are expected on Monday.Â
Steinmeier calls for democrats and anti-racists to stand together against violence in politics
On Sunday, on the 20th anniversary of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) nail bomb attack in Cologne, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for all democrats and anti-racists to stand together, news agency DPA reported.
"It is important that we outlaw violence in the political battle of opinions - no matter what the motives are: whether left-wing or right-wing extremism or religious fanaticism - violence destroys democracy, and we do not want that," said Steinmeier on Sunday at a memorial ceremony exactly 20 years after the attack on June 9, 2004.
This came amid an increase in the number of attacks on politicians and officials across Europe.
The ceremony also commemorated the police officer who was stabbed to death in Mannheim a few days ago. Democracy does not ask where the extremism that wants to get its hands on it comes from, said Steinmeier, "democracy asks about the strength and solidarity of the majority that defends it!"
Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker (independent), who was critically injured by a right-wing extremist a few years ago, said: "We are in a defensive battle of the democrats."
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