The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

Concern is growing over the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s rise ahead of the German election. Its U.S. supporters include Elon Musk and JD Vance.

Trump confidant and tech billionaire Elon Musk openly supports the German far-right AfD party and continues to spread false and misleading claims about elections on his platform X.

The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been endorsed by Donald Trump - and looks set to make huge gains in this weekend's snap election.

As well as backing the AfD, Mr Musk has also trolled centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz with insults. Read more at straitstimes.com.

On a wet evening in Suhl, in the former East Germany, a smattering of youthful faces were among hundreds lining up to hear from an unlikely idol - Björn Höcke, one of the most controversial figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

STORY: While Elon Musk is playing a central role in the U.S. government as head of President Donald Trump's task force to slash government spending, the world’s richest person has also weighed in prominently on politics in Germany.