Elon Musk supports Germany’s far-right AfD ahead of election | News
Germans are expected to vote on February 23 after a center-left coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.
The US billionaire Elon Musk has supported the right-wing extremists Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the European country prepares for elections in February.
The AfD is in second place in opinion polls and could thwart either a center-right or center-left majority. However, Germany’s more centrist mainstream parties have vowed to reject a coalition with the AfD at the national level.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X on Friday.
Europe’s largest economy is expected to vote on February 23 after a center-left coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.
Musk, who will join U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an adviser, has already expressed support for other far-right, anti-immigrant parties across Europe.
The German government said it had noted Musk’s post but declined to comment further at its regular news conference.
Scholz told reporters at a news conference that freedom of speech “also applies to multi-billionaires” and “means you can say things that are wrong and don’t contain good political advice.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, had previously expressed his support for the AfD last year when he attacked the German government’s handling of illegal immigration.
Last month, Musk called for the dismissal of Italian judges who had questioned the legality of government measures to prevent irregular immigration.
“Unacceptable”
German MPs from all mainstream parties reacted outraged to Musk’s comment.
“It is threatening, irritating and unacceptable that a key figure in the future US government is interfering in the German election campaign,” CDU MEP Dennis Radtke told the Handelsblatt daily.
Radtke called Musk a “threat to democracy in the Western world” and accused the world’s richest man of turning X, formerly called Twitter, into a “disinformation slingshot.”
Alex Schaefer, a lawmaker from Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, said Musk’s post was “completely unacceptable.”
“We are very close to the Americans, but now bravery is required against our friend. We reject interference in our election campaign,” Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel.
Former finance minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democratic Party said some of Musk’s ideas had “inspired” him but urged the Tesla boss “not to jump to conclusions from afar.”
“While migration control is crucial for Germany, the AfD stands against freedom, the economy – and it is a right-wing extremist party,” the politician posted.
