Germany is expected to go to the polls on February 23 after Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as expected, lost a vote of confidence in parliament.
Parliamentarians from several different German parties, who have announced that they will not cooperate with AFD, have reacted with anger to the comment.
It is threatening, irritating, and unacceptable that a key figure in the future American government is interfering in the German election campaign, says Christian Democrat Dennis Radtke to the newspaper Handelsblatt.
Musk, who is closely allied with the USA's incoming President Donald Trump, will in the new administration in the USA be responsible for the advisory body Doge, which is to work on streamlining the state bureaucracy.
Alex Schaefer, from Chancellor Scholz's party SPD, calls Musk's statement "completely unacceptable".
Scholz himself was more restrained when asked about Musk's comment:
We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multibillionaires, he said, adding that it "means you can say things that are not true and do not constitute good political advice".
AFD has welcomed Musk's statement, and the party's co-chair Alice Weidel has in a video message thanked him, saying that the party is "the only alternative for our country".
