Germany alleges Musk of trying to influence its election

BERLIN: The Germany’s government accused billionaire Elon Musk of trying to influence its election due in February with articles supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Musk, who is set to serve Donald Trump’s new administration as an outside adviser, endorsed the AfD as Germany’s last hope in a guest opinion piece for a newspaper that prompted the commentary 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.”

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 Feb. 23, following the collapse of the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Musk also called for Scholz’s resignation after a car rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market on Dec. 20, killing five people.

The AfD is currently in second place in opinion polls behind the main opposition conservatives and might be able to thwart a centre-right or centre-left majority in the election. Germany’s mainstream parties have pledged not to work with the AfD at the national level.

The government spokesperson said 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 recognized as partly right-wing extremist.”