US billionaire Elon Musk has backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the European country gears up for elections in February.
The AfD is running second in opinion polls and might be able to thwart either a centre-right or centre-left majority. However Germany’s mainstream, more centrist parties have promised to refuse to form a coalition with the AfD at the national level.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote in a message on his social media platform X on Friday.
Europe’s largest economy will vote on February 23 after the collapse of a center-left coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Musk, who will join US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an advisor, has in the past spoken out against other far-right anti-immigration parties across Europe.
The German government said it had taken note of Elon Musk’s message, but declined to comment at its regular news conference.
Scholz told reporters at a press convention that freedom of opinion “also applies to billionaires” and “means that you can say things that do and do not imply intelligent political advice. “
Musk, the world’s richest person, previously voiced support for the AfD last year when he attacked the German government’s handling of undocumented immigration.
Last month, Musk called for the dismissal of Italian judges who had questioned the legality of government measures to save abnormal immigration.
German lawmakers from the primary parties reacted with outrage to Musk’s comment.
“It is threatening, frustrating and unacceptable that a key figure in the long-term US government is interfering in the German election campaign,” Dennis Radtke, an MEP from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
Radtke Musk is “a risk to democracy in the Western world”, accusing the world’s richest man of turning X, formerly Twitter, into a “slingshot of disinformation”.
Alex Schaefer, a center-left Social Democratic lawmaker from Scholz, said Musk’s message was “totally unacceptable. “
“We are very close to the Americans, but now we want courage towards our friend. We oppose any intervention in our election campaign,” Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Former Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the pro-business Free Democratic Party, said some of Musk’s ideas had “inspired” him but urged the Tesla boss not to “rush to conclusions from afar”.
“While migration control is crucial for Germany, the AfD stands against freedom, business – and it’s a far-right extremist party,” the politician posted.