The Social Democratic Party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz won the regional elections held on Sunday in the state of Lower Saxony, according to television stations, international agencies quoted Agerpres as saying.

According to an exit poll broadcast by ZDF, the Social Democrats are credited with 32.5% of the vote, while former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives would have won 27.5%.

The Greens took third place with 14.5%, the Liberal Democrats came fourth with 5% of the vote.

6.1 million voters in the northwestern land were invited to the polls to renew the local parliament, which is dominated by a coalition between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

At the end of a campaign bedeviled by energy problems, the final polls showed the SPD with a narrow lead (between 31 and 33%) over the CDU (28%).

If she wins, SPD can hope to form a coalition with environmentalists, who are credited with third place (16%), and end the current coalition formed with conservatives.

For Chancellor Scholz, a possible first place would be cause for hope after a series of electoral setbacks suffered by the summer in other states.

Angela Merkel’s successor can count on popularity after the two terms of the current minister-president of the state, the experienced Stefan Weil.

The latter, however, admitted that this campaign was “the most difficult” in his career. “I have never read so many question marks and concerns on the faces of citizens,” he admitted recently.

• Read: Germany: the election in Lower Saxony is the main electoral test for Olaf Scholz