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Fortune
Fortune
Christiaan Hetzner

Elon Musk’s star power fails to help far-right AfD win German election

AFD Elon Musk Alice Weidel Tesla Inc. Germany X Donald Trump Friedrich Merz CDU
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks virtually alongside Alice Weidel, co-leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), during a the party's general election campaign launch in Halle, Germany, on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 (Credit: Krisztian Bocsi—Bloomberg/Getty Images)
  • In spite of the Tesla CEO’s best efforts, the AfD performed no better than had been expected when snap elections were called. While the AfD doubled its support—as predicted—it failed to surpass the conservative Christian Democrats as Musk had hoped. “Germany voted for suicide,” the AfD’s best-known Gen Z influencer wrote.

Germany’s far-right AfD doubled its share of the vote in Sunday’s federal election, hauling in over 20% to become the second largest party in parliament.

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