Musk posts video criticising CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who is set to become chancellor, for refusing to work with AfD
\n Washington DC
\nA post from Elon Musk on his platform X that only the far-right AfD party can \u201csave Germany\u201d sparked accusations Friday that he was seeking to interfere in the country\u2019s upcoming polls.
\nThe tech billionaire posted the message over a video commentary that criticised the leader of Germany\u2019s CDU party Friedrich Merz, on course to become the next chancellor, for his refusal to work with the AfD.
\nThe anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) has enjoyed a surge in the polls, and is currently second-placed, but mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with it.
\nWhile the German government refused to be drawn on the comments by Musk, set to be \u201cefficiency czar\u201d under US President-elect Donald Trump, politicians from major parties reacted with outrage.
\n\u201cIt is threatening, irritating and unacceptable for a key figure in the future US government to interfere in the German election campaign,\u201d Dennis Radtke, an MEP for the centre-right CDU, told the Handelsblatt daily.
\nGermans are set to go to the polls on February 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s coalition last month in a row over the budget.
\nMusk was a \u201cthreat to democracy in the Western world\u201d, Radtke added, accusing the world\u2019s richest man of turning X, previously called Twitter, into a \u201cdisinformation slingshot\u201d.
\nAlex Schaefer, a lawmaker from Scholz\u2019s centre-left SPD party, said Musk\u2019s post was \u201ccompletely unacceptable\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are very close to the Americans, but now bravery is required towards our friend. We object to interference in our election campaign,\u201d Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel daily.
\nThe AfD however celebrated Musk\u2019s praise in its own X message, which said \u201cmillions of people have long recognised this \u2013 and the number is growing\u201d.
\nThe German government was reluctant to be drawn into commenting on Musk\u2019s post, with a spokeswoman telling a regular press conference in Berlin that \u201cfreedom of expression also applies to X\u201d.
\nBut the spokeswoman, Christiane Hoffmann, added the government was worried about \u201chow X has developed in recent years, especially since Elon Musk took over\u201d.
\nDespite such concerns, the government had decided not to close their accounts on the platform as it remained \u201can important medium for reaching and informing people\u201d, she said.
\nIt is not the first time Musk has weighed in on German politics.
\nLast month he tweeted in German that \u201cOlaf is a fool\u201d after the collapse of Scholz\u2019s government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Musk posts video criticising CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who is set to become chancellor, for refusing to work with AfD Washington DC A post from Elon Musk on his platform X that only the far-right AfD party can \u201csave Germany\u201d sparked accusations Friday that he was seeking to interfere in the country\u2019s upcoming polls. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-450738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n