ELON ENDORSED
Musk congratulates far-right AfD leader after biggest surge since WW2 as he’s accused of ‘meddling’ in German election
Friedrich Merz described the alleged election interference as "drastic and ultimately outrageous"
ELON Musk has sent his congratulations to Germany's far-right AfD party after their historic election showing.
The Tesla chief put out an X post saying "it is only a matter of time" before AfD take control of the German government - just hours after he was accused of "meddling".
12
12
12
12
Friedrich Merz, 69, made the strong claims after he led the Christian Democrats (CDU) to the top of the German polls on Sunday.
His closest rival is now Alternative for Germany (AfD) who have been heavily backed by Musk and US VP JD Vance in the past few weeks.
Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) collapsed to a dismal third place with the outspoken leader set to be ousted from his position shortly.
Leader of controversial AfD party, Alice Weidel, praised their best-ever national election result - dubbing it as "historic".
read more on news
Their substantial split of the votes represents the first time a far-right party has been the main opposition for eight decades ever since the Nazis.
Weidel told cheering supporters that the anti-immigration party was now "firmly anchored" in the political landscape and had "never been so strong on a national level".
Musk - who had been urging Germans to vote for AfD for some time - personally congratulated Weidel and her team on the election gains.
The AfD leader announced at a celebratory speech today that she had a missed call from the SpaceX extraordinaire.
Most read in The Sun
Musk heaped on further praise publicly as said on X: “At this rate of growth, @AfD will be the majority party by the next election.”
A few hours later he replied to a picture of the youth vote where AfD managed to find the most votes and said: “Then it is only a matter of time before @AfD wins.”
Europe’s far-right surges AGAIN after big gains in France & Germany as party founded by Nazi SS officer wins in Austria
Support from Washington for the party has been seen as one of the biggest reasons for their rise.
President Trump has already hailed the poll results when they first came out as a "great day for Germany".
He wrote on Truth Social appearing to reference the move away from the SPD: "Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration."
AfD's campaign has often echoed Trump-style populism, with supporters seen wearing MAGA-inspired caps reading "Make Germany Great Again".
Weidel also revealed she had a number of missed calls from other American figures who she chose not to name other than Musk.
The friendly relationship between the world's richest man and the rising political force has raised concerns for many due to Musk's X posts.
Potential soon-to-be chancellor Merz even addressed the range of influential voices within Washington during his winning address last night.
He said: "The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow.
"We are under so much pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe."
European alliances
Merz celebrated the win last night which has propelled him to become the front-runner in the race for Germany's next chancellor.
He has already started to speak on what a new-look German government could mean for Europe going forwards.
It follows weeks of continental unrest as European leaders continue to butt heads with Trump over his plans for ending the war in Ukraine.
One of Merz's main priorities during his victory speech was to address the idea of making Europe self-sufficient away from their American partners.
He warned Nato could soon be a thing of the past as he echoed calls from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to build a new alliance.
12
12
12
He said his team will work to “quickly” establish an "independent European defence capability".
Merz added: “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.
“I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program.
"But after Donald Trump’s statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Trump has appeared to be indifferent to helping Europe out in recent weeks as he continues to look to play out his "America First" plan.
Who are the AfD?
THE far-right party have only been around since April 2013 as they were founded ahead of that year’s federal elections.
Starting as an anti-Euro party, the AfD was a reaction to the European debt crisis which had seen Germany bailout some of the EU’s struggling economies.
Their first manifesto called for less centralised powers in Brussels and the scrapping of the Euro currency.
But despite an impressive showing in the 2013 election - winning 4.7 per cent of the vote – the AfD failed to gain the five per cent needed to enter the German parliament.
The party filled the space left by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU which has since shifted towards the political centre.
But while the AfD capitalised on Europe’s economic discord, it was Merkel’s reaction to the refugee crisis that propelled the far-right party into the Bundestag.
In 2017, the party shocked Europe and won 12.6 per cent of the vote, making it the third largest in the Bundestag.
But, in 2021, its vote share shrank down to 10 per cent as the CDU was voted out of power wand replaced by a left-wing coalition.
In recent months, the AfD has seen a huge surge in supporters with them overtaking Olaf Scholz's SPD party at the recent elections.
A key factor behind their sharp uptake of voters is due to a string of terror related attacks on German soil in recent months.
Last Friday, a Syrian refugee reportedly attempted to slit the throat of a 30-year-old Spanish tourist from behind in Berlin.
The suspect attacked at the Holocaust Memorial and said he wanted to "kill people out of hatred of Jews", cops said.
Just days earlier, Germany was again rocked by a suspected terror attack when an Afghan asylum seeker ploughed his car into a group of demonstrators in Munich.
A 37-year-old mother and her two-year-old daughter were killed in the attack and injured at least 26 others.
Merz's remarks come after brave Zelensky called for the creation of an "Army of Europe" to take on Russia earlier this month.
The Ukrainian president said Europe should be looking to create such a military separate from Nato in case "America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it".
Merz made a similar remark around the future of Nato as he said: “I am very curious to see how we are heading towards the Nato summit at the end of June.
"Whether we will still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly.”
It comes as the war in Ukraine enters its third year with daily attacks from Vladimir Putin's army still ongoing amid peace talks.
How the election played out
Preliminary results of the election show Merz's CDU and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) took 28.5 per cent of the vote in first place.
The AfD won a record 20.8 per cent in second - securing its best result in a federal election since it formed in 2013.
Scholz's SPD managed just 16.4 per cent of the vote in what turned out to be their worst result in the post-war era.
The CDU/CSU bloc was unable to pull off a majority share of the votes which means a coalition within the German government will need to be formed.
12
12
12
During his victory speech on Sunday night, Merz said: "We have nearly eight weeks until Easter now, and I think that should be enough time - the maximum time - to form a government in Germany."
But many fear creating a strong government will be tough due to the limited options for the conservative group.
Merz has already confirmed he will not allow the AfD to be involved due to their controversial views and widely condemned stance on social issues.
This view is shared across most of the parties who have all created a "firewall" designed to keep out the far-right as part of a long-running pact.
Despite this, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, said "our hand remains outstretched to form a government".
She also predicted that if the CDU continued to refuse to work with her party to "implement the will of the people", the AfD would "overtake" them in the next election.
Scholz has also appeared to rule out joining forces with the CDU since the results were revealed and he officially conceded.
Read More on The Sun
Merz says he remains focused on finding the right fit to form a government and expects to face complex coalition negotiations in the coming days and weeks.
It is unclear if he will need to find just one or potentially two partners to form a needed pact.
The world reacts to Germany's election
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer - The Labour leader wrote on X that he was looking "forward to working with the new government to deepen our already strong relationship, enhance our joint security and deliver growth for both our countries".
French President Emmanuel Macron - He wrote on social media: "We are more determined than ever to achieve great things together for France and Germany and to work towards a strong and sovereign Europe.
"In this time of uncertainty, we stand united to face the great challenges of the world and our continent."
Macron also spoke personally to both Merz and Scholz.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky - The heroic leader stressed the importance of the election in helping to create a stronger Europe.
He said: "Europe must be able to defend itself, develop its industries, and achieve the necessary results.
"Europe needs shared successes, and those success will bring even greater unity to Europe."
European Council President Antonio Costa - Taking to X, Costa wrote: "These might be challenging times. But I know that, just like in the past, the European Union will deliver and come out stronger."
12
12
Topics