Musk effect pushes far right closer to power in Germany

‘Terrifying’ poll appears to suggest billionaire’s intervention could have a significant impact on forthcoming election

- DAVID MADDOX

A new poll has fuelled growing fears that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could be on the cusp of winning power.

The findings show billionaire X (formerly Twitter) social media platform owner Elon Musk has helped catapult AfD into second place with their leader Alice Weidel the favourite to become the country’s new chancellor.

The survey results have been described as “utterly terrifying” by Labour MP Blair McDougall, who sits on the Commons foreign affairs select committee and has branded Musk “the most irresponsible man on Earth”.

The poll comes just days after the world commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, and marked Hitler’s genocide of 6 million Jews.

Last weekend Musk addressed an AfD rally in Halle, east Germany, telling party members that Germans should move beyond guilt – adding, in an apparent reference to the crimes of the Nazis: “Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents.”