Turnout in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt reaches 54.4% by 2 p.m.

More than one in two voters in Saxony-Anhalt had cast a ballot by 2 p.m., a striking increase from the comparable point in the previous regional election. Regional election official Christa Dieckmann announced turnout of 54.4% in Magdeburg.

Five years ago, turnout at the same hour stood at 27.1%. The figure was 35.4% in 2016. The latest number came from a sample of results from representative constituencies and did not include postal voting.

About 1.7 million people were eligible to vote across the German state. Its roughly 2,130 polling stations were scheduled to remain open until 6 p.m.

AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund voted in Tangermünde, the town where he was born, arriving with his wife on a light-blue Simson scooter, a model produced in the former East Germany. Polls placed Siegmund at 41%, ahead of outgoing state premier Sven Schulze's CDU, and he was seeking to govern alone and bring the far-right party into a regional government for the first time in Germany.

The scooter, used as a symbol of nostalgia for eastern Germany, became a feature of Siegmund's campaign. The successors to the Simson factory protested against its political use.