Poll: Opinion Split on Merkel Remaining Chancellor in Case of New Election

Last Sunday, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) withdrew from the coalition talks with Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Greens, which left a new election as one of the options.

Forty percent of the Germans would like Angela Merkel to remain chancellor if a new election takes place following the failure of coalition talks, while 41 percent feel that she should step down in case of a repeat vote, a poll showed Saturday.

At the same time, 56 percent of the Germans think that Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), should not run for chancellor in case of a repeat election, and only 23 percent support his potential candidature, a YouGov poll, cited by Die Zeit newspaper, showed.

Sixty-five percent of the Germans do not see a potential new election as a big problem, with 59 percent of the respondents saying they would vote the same way they did on September 24, at the previous election, and 8 percent claiming they would vote for another party.

The CDU/CSU and the Greens together now hold less than 50 percent of the seats in the 709-seat Bundestag, so they would only be able to form a minority government if they proceeded with the coalition talks without the FDP.

A majority government would be possible under the so-called Grand Coalition, if CDU/CSU joined their 246 seats with the SPD's 193.

Schulz indicated on Friday that the SPD might consider coalition talks with the CDU/CSU alliance, although his party had initially ruled out this possibility.

A new election will have to be called if no government can be formed.