Germany accuses Elon Musk of trying to influence its election by endorsing an opposition party
The German government accused American billionaire Elon Musk on Monday of trying to influence its February election with articles supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), despite suggesting they were “nonsense.”
Musk, who is set to serve as a foreign adviser to Donald Trump's new leadership, endorsed the AfD as Germany's last hope in an opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that prompted the editor to quit in protest.
“It is certainly the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election” with X posts and comments, said a German government spokesman.
Musk is free to express his opinion, the spokesman said, adding: “After all, freedom of thought includes a great deal of nonsense.”
The German government is accusing Elon Musk of trying to influence their upcoming election after he expressed support for the opposition AfD party. Musk's op-ed published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper over the weekend, was met with criticism from politicians and the resignation of the paper's opinion editor.
Musk, the world's richest man, defended his right to weigh in on German politics because of “significant investments,” and praised the AfD's approach to regulation, taxation and market deregulation.
His intervention comes as Germans prepare to vote in parliamentary elections on February 23, following the collapse of the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Musk also called for Scholz to step down after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market on December 20, killing five people.
Mainstream parties have promised not to cooperate with the AfD
The AfD is currently in second place in opinion polls behind opposition parties, and may be able to block a center-right or center-left majority in the election. Germany's main parties have pledged not to cooperate with the AfD at the national level.
A government spokesman said Musk's endorsement of the AfD was “a proposal to vote for a closely watched party. [by domestic intelligence] for allegedly being a right-wing extremist and now known as a right-wing extremist.”
German politicians cheered Musk on his AfD endorsement, with the co-leader of Scholz's Social Democrats comparing him to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They both want to influence our elections and specifically support the AfD's enemies of democracy. They want Germany to be weakened and plunged into chaos,” Lars Klingbeil told the Funke news group on Monday.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition Christian Democrats and current favorite to succeed Scholz as chancellor, told Funke that Musk's comments were “disturbing and misleading.”
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