Voters went to the polls in Germany’s north-western state of Lower Saxony on Sunday, in what was expected to be a close race between Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and their Christian Democratic (CDU) rivals. With soaring inflation, an energy crunch and a potential looming recession weighing on Germans, some 6.1 million people in the large state that stretches from the North Sea to the Harz mountains are eligible to elect a new state parliament. By 10 am (0800 GMT), voter turnout was 7.44%, comparable to the 8.21% who had voted by the same time in the last elections five years ago. …