As polls closed in the municipal vote across North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, initial forecasts showed the center-right party of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz set for victory but the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) also has reasons to celebrate. Merz's CDU is set to take around 34% of the vote, followed by center-left SPD, with 22.5%, and the far-right AfD, with 16.5% over three times more than the 5.1% the party secured in 2020.