Ballots in two states deliver the first far-right victory in Germany since the end of World War II—and a fresh embarrassment for Olaf Scholz’s government.

The nationalist AfD scored its first electoral victory in a German state election since its creation 11 years ago, according to projections on Sunday—a political earthquake and a milestone for a continent where centrist parties are increasingly on the defensive. The AfD was ahead in Thuringia and a close second in Saxony while the three centrist parties forming Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s embattled government in Berlin were all but wiped out, initial surveys by public broadcaster ZDF showed shortly after the balloting ended. With a combined population of just over six million, the two eastern states rarely make national news and the results have no practical bearing on the balance of power in Berlin. Despite its score, the AfD is unlikely to end up governing any of the states because it would need to form a coalition with a rival party and most have ruled out working with it. Yet the vote has high symbolic value in Germany, where no far-right group has won a state or general election since the end of World War II and where centrist parties have successfully kept the AfD out of power since its creation in 2013.

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