Berlin, Germany

Billionaire Elon Musk sparked controversy on Friday (Dec 20) with his comment on Germany's politics.

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Germany is set to go to the polls on February 23 after Olaf Scholz’s centre-left coalition collapsed in November, which followed a no-trust vote this month which he lost.

Musk said in a post on his social media platform X, “Only the AfD [Alternative für Deutschland, the right wing party] can save Germany".

Via the post, Musk appeared to endorse the far-right and anti-immigrant party AfD, and is being accused of interfering in Germany's upcoming elections. 

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Musk also reposted a video by a German rightwing influencer, Naomi Seibt. She criticised the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats' leader Friedrich Merz, who is expected to become Germany's next chancellor. 

The German health minister, Karl Lauterbach called Musk's act of commenting on Germany's political debate “undignified and highly problematic”. 

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Scholz also responded to Musk's post in a press conference without naming him.

“We have freedom of speech here. That also applies to multimillionaires. Freedom of speech also means that you’re able to say things that aren’t right and do not contain good political advice," Scholz said. 

Later on the same day, two people were reported killed in a suspected terror attack in the German city of Magdeburg.

Musk again posted on X citing the incident and wrote, "Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool". 

Lauterbach further accused Musk of election interference and asked authorities to keep an eye on what was happening on X. 

“It is very disturbing, how the platform X, which I use very intensively myself, is increasingly being used to spread the political positions and goals of Mr Musk," he said. 

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Christian Lindner, former finance minister of Germany who was sacked by Scholz, also responded to Musk.

She wrote on X, “Elon, I’ve initiated a policy debate inspired by ideas from you and Milei. While migration control is crucial for Germany, the AfD stands against freedom and business – and it’s a far-right extremist party. Don’t rush to conclusions from afar. Let’s meet, and I’ll show you what the FDP stands for. CL". 

(With inputs from agencies)