'Almost half of Germans want to leave Merkel'

berlin - Almost half of the Germans think that Angela Merkel should soon resign as Chancellor. This appears from a Saturday published poll of the newspaper Die Welt.

According to the survey, 46 percent believe that the Christian Democrat should step up as quickly as possible and 17 percent think the Chancellor should take that decision if talks with the Social Democratic SPD about the formation of a coalition fail. Eight percent say that they have to leave the parliament at the latest at half of the current parliamentary term. Only one of the ten respondents wants Merkel not to retreat at all.

Merkel has especially swallowed it with support from the anti-immigration party AfD. According to the Die Welt poll, 87 percent of the AfD voters believe that Merkel should leave as soon as possible. 5120 people participated in the study.

The Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have ruled together for the past four years. But on September 24 they became the big losers in the parliamentary elections. Together they lost 13.7 percentage points. On 7 January they start exploratory talks about the formation of a new German government.

Merkel has been Chancellor since November 22, 2005. She has led the CDU since 2000.