Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has been accused of interfering in European politics with far-right support, called German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a "tyrant."
On the 30th (local time), Musk wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account, "Steinmeier is an anti-democratic tyrant! Shame on you."
President Steinmeier had announced early general elections on the 27th, stating, "Whether covertly, like the recent Romanian elections, or blatantly, as has been concentrated recently on platform X, external influence is a threat to democracy."
The German president formally exercises powers such as dissolving parliament and appointing ministers but is a symbolic head of state without real power.
On the same day, Musk added "AfD will have a landslide victory" to a tweet about the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party reaching its highest-ever approval rating, repeatedly expressing support for AfD.
He has commented on German politics on X and sparked controversy over political interference by publishing a pro-AfD article in the German weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag on the 28th.
In this column, Musk argued that Tesla has the right to speak publicly about German politics because it operates an electric vehicle production plant in Germany.
However, as Musk, who is emerging as a key figure in the next U.S. administration, expressed long-form support for a far-right party, the German political circles are taking it as serious election interference.
On the 31st, Chancellor Olaf Scholz indirectly criticized Musk in his New Year's address, saying, "How Germany moves forward is decided by its citizens. It is not decided by social media owners."
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