Poland reminds Musk that foreign interference in its elections is illegal

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s foreign minister has warned that foreign interference in Polish elections is illegal, following Elon Musk’s recent interventions in German and British politics. Presidential elections will take place in Poland this year.

Radosław Sikorski was speaking on Monday in France, whose own president, Emmanuel Macron, had earlier in the day accused Musk of “supporting a new international reactionary movement and intervening directly in elections, including in Germany”.

When asked whether Musk might seek to influence the outcome of Poland’s elections – in which the leading candidates are a liberal centrist supported by Sikorski’s party and a conservative rival backed by the main opposition – the foreign minister said that that was a question for Musk himself.

“It seems that he is already trying to do this [influence politics] in the UK,” said Sikorski, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “And in Poland, influencing Polish elections from abroad is illegal.”

“We must prepare to protect our democratic process so that Poles, not foreigners, choose our president,” added the foreign minister.

On Tuesday, Sikorski also used his personal account on X – the social media platform owned by Musk – to repost a Politico Europe article titled “Pressure mounts on EU to use legal weapons against Musk’s interference”.

In recent weeks, Musk, who is a close advisor to Donald Trump and part of the incoming president’s proposed administration, has criticised Germany’s government and expressed support for the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of next month’s German federal elections.

That prompted expressions of criticism and concern from a number of leading European politicians, with the European Commission announcing that it would look into the issue.

Musk has also recently launched a series of attacks on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Last month, he met with Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing populist Reform UK, raising speculation that the billionaire may offer the party financial support. However, two days ago Musk called for Farage to be replaced as leader.

On Monday, Politico Europe‘s editor-at-large, Nicholas Vinocur, suggested in his Brussels Playbook column that, once Musk is done with Germany and the UK, he “could wade in on the upcoming Polish presidential election in May”.

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda, who is a conservative opponent of the current Polish government and has a close relationship with Trump, will leave office this year after his second and final term expires.

The ruling coalition hopes that one of its three candidates will be elected as president, allowing the government to proceed with an agenda that has been stymied by Duda. Among them, Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski is tipped as the most likely winner.

But Duda’s former PiS party is backing Trzaskowski’s main rival, Karol Nawrocki. Meanwhile, the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) has put forward as its candidate Sławomir Mentzen, whose party is aligned with the AfD in the European Parliament.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

All image credits: ZACK/MCOM (under CC BY 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.