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 would likely thwart a center-right or center-left majority. However, Germany’s main centrist parties have vowed 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 X social media platform on Friday.
Europe’s largest economy is expected to vote on February 23 after a centre-left coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.
Musk, who will join U. S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an adviser, has already expressed his stance to other far-right anti-immigration parties across Europe.
The German government said it had taken note of Musk’s message but declined to comment further at its regular news conference.
Scholz told reporters at a news conference that freedom of opinion “also applies to billionaires” and “means that you can say things that imply and do not imply intelligent political advice. “
Musk, the world’s richest user, had already expressed his support for the AfD last year when he attacked the German government’s handling of illegal immigration.
Last month, Musk called for the dismissal of Italian judges who had the legality of government measures aimed at preventing 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 called it a “threat to democracy in the Western world,” accusing the world’s richest man of turning X, formerly known as Twitter, into a “slingshot of misinformation. “
Alex Schaefer, a center-left Social Democrat lawmaker for 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 interference in our election campaign,” Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel.
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.