Billionaire argues that ‘Only the AfD Can Save Germany’ in op-ed that prompted commentary editor’s resignation

Elon Musk backed Germany’s far-right Alternative for Deutschland party, known as the AfD, in an opinion piece published in a German newspaper on Saturday, wading deeper into international politics as the billionaire has become a fixture in Trump’s orbit.

The German government accused U.S. billionaire Elon Musk on Monday of trying to influence its election due in February with articles supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, even though it suggested they amounted to "nonsense".

Other parties vying to win the upcoming election also criticized the tech billionaire after he doubled down on his support for the far-right AfD party in a weekend op-ed.

Germany's vice chancellor said Musk's comments calling the far-right AfD a "last spark of hope" weren't made out of ignorance.

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.

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In May, France’s far-right party led by Marine Le Pen split from the AfD in its European Parliament coalition after the German party’s top candidate, Maximilian Krah, said that a person was “not automatically a criminal” just because they had been a member of the SS, Adolph Hitler’s paramilitary organization.

Musk called for fresh UK elections in the latest sign of how Donald Trump’s incoming US administration could be a thorn in the side of Keir Starmer’s government.