Berlin: The German government has accused Tesla CEO and entrepreneur Elon Musk of interfering in the country's upcoming election after he endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), according to a report by Euro News.
Officials, including government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann, Social Democratic Party (SPD) co-leader Lars Klingbeil, and Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany's largest opposition party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) condemned Musk's comments on Germany.
"It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election through his statements," Hoffmann said.
She added that although Musk was "free to express his opinion" it was worth noting Musk was recommending voting for a party that is "being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and that has already been recognized as being right-wing extremist in parts."
SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil also criticised Musk, comparing him to Russian President Vladimir Putin and accusing him of election interference.
Klingbeil alleged that Musk's public endorsement of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of the country's snap elections is a deliberate attempt to weaken Germany's democracy and called for stricter regulation of major internet platforms like Musk's X.
In an interview with Funke Mediengruppe on Monday, Klingbeil likened Musk to Putin, saying that "both want to influence our elections and are deliberately supporting the AfD, the enemies of democracy. They want Germany to be weakened and plunge into chaos."
"We need to be much more proactive and effectively limit the power of the large internet platforms like Musk's short message service, X. Here, a tech billionaire is trying to use his influence to influence the course of world politics," Euro News reported.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called Musk's endorsement of the far-right AfD an unprecedented example of meddling between allied nations and highlighted the potential economic harm of AfD policies, such as their push for Germany to exit the European Union.
Merz said Musk had overlooked several of the AfD's policies when drafting his op-ed, including its stated desire for Germany to leave the European Union, something Merz and many others argue would be extremely damaging to Germany's economy, according to a report by Euro News.
Last week, Musk sparked controversy in Germany by openly endorsing the AfD.
In a post on X, Musk wrote, "The portrayal of the AfD as rightwing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party's leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you."
Earlier, Musk had called Chancellor Scholz a "fool" after the collapse of his three-party coalition. Musk posted in German on X: "Olaf ist ein Narr." The sentence translates to -- "Olaf is a fool."
In a major turn of events, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had lost a confidence vote in their parliament forcing the country into snap elections seven months ahead of schedule.
The vote on December 16 came after Scholz's fragile coalition collapsed, sparking a political crisis in the largest economy of the European Union.
Only 207 lawmakers voted in Scholz's support in the 733-member lower house, or Bundestag, while 394 members voted against him and 116 abstained. That left him far short of the majority of 367 needed to sustain in power. Following this, the snap elections for a new parliament will take place on February 23.
In Germany, Scholz - who previously served as mayor of Hamburg and finance minister before becoming the head of a new government in 2021 - accused the Free Democrats of wanting to block investment in the country.
Seen as a continuity candidate when he took over from Angela Merkel three years ago, he has framed next year's election as an opportunity for voters to set a new course, casting the vote as a choice between a future of growth versus one of austerity, according to Al Jazeera.
If he gets a second term, Scholz said he would invest heavily in Germany's creaking infrastructure and would not make the spending cuts he said the conservatives want. (ANI)