Projections: Neck-and-neck election results in Germany's Saxony

Initial projected election results in the eastern German state of Saxony show a neck-and-neck race between the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The forecasts from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, which are based on initial election results as well as exit polls, gave incumbent Saxon state Premier Michael Kretschmer's CDU only a very narrow edge over the AfD.

The broadcasters released the projects about an hour after voting ended at 6 pm (1600 GMT) on Sunday.

The CDU is projected to get 31.6% to 31.7%, while the AfD is forecast slightly behind with between 30.4% and 31.4%.

The upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) was projected to finish in third place with 11.4% to 12.0% of the vote.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are currently the junior partner in a coalition with Kretschmer's CDU, are forecast to finish fourth with 7.8% to 8.2% of the vote.

The Greens are forecast to collect 5.3% to 5.5%, barely over the 5% threshold required to receive seats in German elections.

The hard-left Die Linke (The Left) is forecast to fall short of the 5% mark with just 4.0% to 4.3%, while the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP) appeared to score so poorly that they are not included in the projections.