BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday rejected a claim by Elon Musk that only a far-right party could “save Germany,” but said that freedom of expression “also applies to multibillionaires.”

Germany is expected to hold a snap election on February 23 after Scholz’s three-party ruling coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revive the country’s stagnant economy.

Scholz is hoping to win a second term, but polls show the main opposition’s centre-right Union bloc leading and the chancellor’s centre-left Social Democrats far behind.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is doing well in the polls, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with her.

In a post on his social network X early Friday, Musk wrote: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Weidel posted on our last option if you ask me.”

Asked about Musk’s comment at a press conference with his Estonian counterpart, Scholz replied: “We have freedom of speech – that also applies to multi-billionaires, but freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain good political advice. “

“I say emphatically that the democratic parties in Germany all see this differently,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, the government was asked whether Musk’s comments would have consequences for its own presence on X.

Spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann pointed out that since Musk took over the platform, the federal government has had concerns about the development of “There are significant disadvantages if the government or the Chancellor is not represented on relevant social media.”

Scholz lost a no-confidence vote on Monday, leaving the decision on dissolving parliament and holding early elections to Germany’s normally largely ceremonial head of state. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Friday that he would make an announcement on Dec. 27.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.