Germany accuses Musk of meddling in elections for supporting AfD: What we know | News about elections

The German government accused American billionaire Elon Musk on Monday of meddling in the upcoming February election after he endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in X posts and an article published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

German leaders have accused Musk, who has claimed the AfD is the only party that can “save” Germany, of trying to “influence the federal election” as the country moves towards snap elections amid political turmoil next month.

So what happened and what does it all mean?

Why did Germany call early elections?

Since 2013, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) has governed Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy, leading various coalition governments.

However, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz of the SPD, lost the confidence of the parliament on December 16.

The vote, proposed by Scholz himself in an apparent attempt to trigger early elections, followed the collapse of Germany’s ruling coalition government led by Scholz and the SPD. The government was thrown into turmoil when Scholz resigned Minister of Finance Christian Lindner in November after months of disagreements over the German budget.

Analysts say Scholz fully expected to lose the election but wanted to trigger early elections, which he sees as his party’s last chance to hang on to any power. Before Monday’s vote, Scholz said the election would be an opportunity to set the country on a new course.

After a vote of no confidence, the German parliament was dissolved on Friday by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the SPD, and early elections they were announced for February 23, 2025, seven months before the originally planned parliamentary elections.

What is AfD?

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is considered a far-right populist party in Germany. It was founded in 2013 and held 76 of the 733 seats in the German parliament or Bundestag before its dissolution.

The AfD is a Eurosceptic party, which means that it is critical of Germany’s integration into the European Union.

The AfD also openly criticizes Islam and opposes mass immigration. The party opposed former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcoming stance towards immigrants coming from the Middle East and Africa. In 2015, under the leadership of Merkel, more than a million refugees arrived in Germany.

In September of this year AfD won key elections for eight seats in the Landtag in the eastern state of Thuringia with 32.8 percent of the vote, the first victory in a state election for a far-right party since World War II.

AfD appointed party leader Alice Weidel as a candidate for chancellor in early December. The nomination is largely symbolic since the party is unlikely to win a majority. After the Bundestag is elected, it votes for the chancellor. To become chancellor, a candidate must receive more than half of the votes in parliament.

For the upcoming election, the latest polls put the AfD in second place with the support of 19 percent of the electorate as of December 28, according to Politico. In first place with 30 percent is the conservative coalition made up of the center-right parties the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).

The current ruling group, the SPD, is in third place with a predicted support of 17 percent.

The main parties have refused to cooperate with the AfD in government, but it is nevertheless predicted to form the largest opposition in parliament after the upcoming elections.

What did Musk say about the AfD?

On December 20, Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Musk, who has become a close associate of US President-elect Trump, extended his support for the AfD in an article for Welt am Sonntag, a German Sunday newspaper. The paper is published by the Axel Springer media group, which also owns the American political website Politico.

Musk’s article was published online on Sunday. The translation reads: “The portrayal of the AfD as a right-wing extremist is clearly false, given that Alice Weidel, the leader of the party, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”

He wrote that Germany is on the “brink of economic and cultural collapse” and that “AfD can save Germany from becoming a shadow of what it used to be.”

Musk wrote that he had “significant investments” in Germany, which gave him the right to comment on the country.

Saying Germany’s traditional parties have failed in Germany, Musk wrote: “The AfD, while described as far-right, represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel the establishment is ignoring their concerns.”

Has Musk endorsed other right-wing figures?

Musk has recently openly endorsed other far-right figures, including Nigel Farage of the UK Reform Party and Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni. On Thursday, Musk announced on X a campaign to free British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October 2024 after making false allegations against a Syrian refugee boy.

Musk, who was born in South Africa but is also a naturalized US citizen, is also known for meddling in US politics and was a prominent part of Trump’s presidential campaign. Last month, Trump refuted claims that he “gave the presidency” to Musk.

How did the Germans react?

“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said at a regular media briefing on Monday.

“After all, freedom of thought covers even the biggest stupidities.”

Friedrich Merz, the leader of the opposition Christian Democrats and the current favorite for chancellor in the upcoming election, described Musk’s words as “intrusive and pretentious” in an interview with German newspaper Funke Media Group.

“I cannot think of a comparable case of interference, in the history of Western democracies, in the election campaign of a friendly country,” Merz said.

“In Elon Musk’s world, democracy and workers’ rights are an obstacle to higher profits,” SPD co-chair Saskia Esken told Reuters. “We say quite clearly: Our democracy is defensible and cannot be bought.”

Shortly after Musk’s article was published, Eva Marie Kogel, opinion editor at Welt am Sonntag, announced her resignation from X.

“I’ve always enjoyed running an opinion column,” Kogel wrote in a Dec. 28 X post. “Today, an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I submitted my resignation yesterday after it went to press.”