The German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned of an alleged “outside influence” when announcing the dissolution of the German Bundestag. In doing so, the former Federal Foreign Minister stated:
“Outside influence is a danger to democracy, whether it is disguised, as was recently apparent in the Romanian elections, or open and unhidden, as it is currently being intensely pursued on the X platform. I strongly reject all external influence attempts. The voters’ decision is made by the eligible citizens of Germany in Germany.”
The Federal President’s statement can be understood as a criticism of the electoral recommendation for the AfD (Alternative for Germany) by X CEO Elon Musk, which was met with widespread indignation by politics and the media in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In Romania, the Constitutional Court had decided at the beginning of the month that the presidential election must be completely repeated. This was justified by an alleged “aggressive Russian hybrid attack” that allegedly helped the EU- and NATO-critical candidate Călin Georgescu win in the first round. However, the investigative portal snoop.ro revealed that the criticized TikTok campaign was actually paid for by the EU-friendly PNL party.
After Steinmeier’s statements, the question quickly arose in social networks as to whether the Bundestag election would also need to be declared invalid if the results were “false”. Other users referred to the fact that German politicians regularly and as a matter of course intervene in foreign elections, such as most recently in Georgia and previously in the USA.