Germany accuses Musk of election meddling over AfD support: What we know

Elon Musk praised far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its leader Alice Weidel in an opinion piece for German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk listens as US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, US on November 13, 2024 [Allison Robbert/Pool via Reuters]

By Al Jazeera Staff

Published On 2 Jan 20252 Jan 2025

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Germany’s government accused US billionaire Elon Musk on Monday of interfering in its upcoming February election after he threw his support behind the far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) in X posts and an opinion piece published by the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

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

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So what happened and what does it all mean?

Why has Germany called snap elections?

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

However, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz of the SPD, lost a confidence vote in parliament on December 16.

The vote, tabled by Scholz himself apparently in a bid to trigger an early election, came after the collapse of the German governing coalition government headed by Scholz and SPD. The government was thrown into turmoil when Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner in November following months of disagreements over Germany’s budget.