Around 13.7 million voters in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia went to the polls, delivering losses for the center-left SPD and the Greens, while the CDU held steady and the AfD made significant gains.

Preliminary results showed the CDU with 33.3%, SPD 22.1%, AfD 14.5%, and Greens 13.5%, marking a major setback for the environmentalists and a surge for the AfD compared to five years ago.

The elections, covering around 20,000 local parliamentary seats and city mayorships, were seen as a test of public opinion since the new federal coalition took office in May, the DW has reported.

AfD state leader Martin Vincentz framed the result as a “referendum on the direction of our country.”