As the Social Democrats have managed to edge ahead of the AfD in the Brandenburg vote, we look at the big winners and losers and what happens next.

After a string of bitterly disappointing elections, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) finally have something to celebrate after winning Sunday's vote in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Brandenburg is a longstanding stronghold for the party. But it is located in Germany’s relatively impoverished east, where the anti-immigrant A f D performs far better than in the west. That made this election a test of whether the SPD could beat the populists on its home ground.