Elon Musk accused of trying to influence German election with support for Far-Right AfD party
Share:
Elon Musk was accused by the Berlin government of trying to influence Germany’s federal election with an article supporting a Far-Right party. Musk, who is set to serve Donald Trump’s new administration co-leading a Government Efficiency Department, endorsed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the European country’s last hope.
His comments in a guest opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper prompted the comment editor to resign in protest. “It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” with X posts and the opinion piece, a German government spokesperson said.
Musk is free to express his opinion, the spokesperson said, adding: “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense.”. The spokesperson stressed Musk’s endorsement of the AfD was “a recommendation to vote for a party that is being monitored (by domestic intelligence) on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and which has already been recognised as partly right-wing extremist”.
Musk, the world’s richest person, has defended his right to weigh in on German politics because of his “significant investments”, and has praised the AfD’s approach to regulation, taxes and market deregulation. His intervention has come as Germans prepare to vote in a parliamentary election on February 23 after the collapse of the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
