German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved the country’s parliament on Friday and announced a snap election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed three years in office.
President Steinmeier, a left-wing Social Democrat, warned against ‘influence from Elon Musk’ and his social media platform X.
“Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved the 20th German parliament (…). This paves the way for new elections set for February 23,” German newspaper Merkur reported. “In addition to uplifting words, Steinmeier also aired criticism. He targeted Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and close confidant of Donald Trump, and his social media platform X.”
In a short speech, the German president railed against “outside influence” in the upcoming election and recent “open and blatant” attempts to sway the voters on Musk-owned X. In recent posts, Musk came out in support of the Alternative for Germany(AfD), referring to it as the only party capable of “saving Germany.”
Germany’s state-owned DW TV reported the president’s move to dissolve the parliament:
Germany’s head of state started the countdown to a general election on Friday by dissolving the country’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.”I have decided to dissolve the 20th German Bundestag to fix the date for an early election for February 23,” said President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, adding that “political stability in Germany is a precious asset.”Steinmeier’s decision follows a request to do so after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in the legislature on December 16. (…)The parliamentary leaders of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had agreed on the date.Recent opinion polls have Friedrich Merz’ CDU holding a lead of around 10 points over the SPD suggesting a tough bid for re-election for Scholz.The populist, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been polling strongly and has nominated Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor.
Musk’s recent posts in support of the AfD rattled Germany’s ruling establishment, with media outlets and political parties crying foul over ‘outside influence.’
After effectively running an anti-Trump campaign for years, the German weekly Der Spiegel last week complained: “The richest man in the world interferes in the general election campaign and praises the AfD.” Das Handelsblatt business daily lamented last week that Musk has been “interfering much too often” on the issues of domestic politics.
The AfD is gaining in polls after a Saudi immigrant drove a car into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg and killed five, including a nine-year-old child. The migrant crime, too, is at an all-time high, with over 26,000 knife attacks recorded last year.
German president’s remarks come as the AfD party’s chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, is leading in nationwide polls, emerging as the most favored pick for the country’s top political office.
“According to a survey by the opinion research institute INSA (…), 24 percent of Germans would vote for Weidel as chancellor,” German newspaper BILD reported Sunday. “For Weidel, this is (…) a four-point lead over [CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich] Merz.”
The current German chancellor, Scholz, is trailing with merely 15 percent of the overall vote.
[Disclaimer: Author is a member of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party; Excerpts from German media reports translated by the author]
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY