Two exit polls indicated the ruling SPD party had secured a narrow lead in the Brandenburg state election by 6pm on Sunday evening.
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The polls suggest that Chancellor Olaf Scholz has likely narrowly averted questions being asked about how secure his future is as Germany's leader.
In the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen exit poll at 6pm the SPD got 32% and the far-right AfD party got 29% and in the Infratest dimap exit poll at 6pm the SPD got 31% and the far-right AfD party got 30%.
The AfD party and the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance also recorded significant gains in votes. The Greens are likely to secure their return to the state parliament via a direct mandate. This means that the existing state government made up of the SPD, CDU and Greens should be able to defend its majority in the state parliament.
The Forschungsgruppe Wahlen exit poll projected that the SPD would receive 33 seats in the state parliament, up eight seats. The AfD party would gain seven seats to receive 30 seats in total.
Around 2.1 million people were registered to vote for a new state parliament in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, the capital of Germany.
The Social Democrats, the largest party in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition government, are hoping to maintain control of their stronghold in the face of rising support for parties on the extreme right and left.
The far-right Alternative for Germany won the most votes and also did well in Saxony on elections held on Sept. 1, generating concerns in Germany and abroad about growing support for the extreme right in the largest European Union country.
The far-right party has gained support amid a growing backlash to large-scale migration to Germany over the past decade and several recent extremist attacks.
Even if it was to win in Brandenburg, it is unlikely to govern because other parties have refused to work with it.