Musk Makes His German Mark

AfD's rise to become the second-largest party in Bundestag is a boost to the country's conservative movement—and Elon Musk

- by THEO BURMAN

BALANCE OF POWER A carnival float in Cologne, Germany, depicts Elon Musk sitting on a seesaw with leader of the AfD party, Alice Weidel.

INCOMING CHANCELLOR FRIEDRICH MERZ ISN'T the only one who's happy after Germany's February 23 elections: Elon Musk and his European party of choice, Alternative for Germany, are too.

Nationalist party AfD, led by Alice Weidel, became the country's second-largest in terms of vote, overtaking the incumbent center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party in just one election cycle. AfD doubled their vote share since the 2021 elections, growing from 10.4 percent to 20.8 percent.

AfD took 152 seats in the Bundestag, Germany's federal Parliament, second only to Merz's center-right coalition of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, which won a combined 208 seats of the chamber's 630 total. The SPD received just 16.4 percent of the vote and 120 seats.

The new German government will be formed by Merz's Union bloc, with Merz as its leader. But AfD will be the largest opposition party, gaining access to more speaking time in the Bundestag and greater control over the legislative process. However, other major parties have all pledged to keep AfD from growing further, meaning they have no coalition partners—a rarity in Germany where the governing bloc is often a partnership between two or more parties.

The AfD's election surge was a reward for its focus on immigration and the war in Eastern Europe, which were two of the most-discussed topics on the campaign trail. It also rewards Musk, who has once again backed the growth of the Right in a major Western election.

Dr. Christian Czymara, a migration expert at the University of Frankfurt, told Newsweek that Musk helped AfD break into the global mainstream, and that their shared views on immigration would now be key points to watch in the new government.