Most Germans do not want Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Armin Laschet to try to form a government after his conservative bloc suffered huge losses in parliamentary elections, recent surveys of the public indicated on Tuesday.
Laschet's CDU/CSU conservative bloc fell to a record low of 24.1 per cent in the Bundestag elections on Sunday, while the Social Democrats (SPD) captured 25.7 per cent.
Both SPD leader Olaf Scholz and Laschet have said they want to form a coalition government. But the pressure has been building on Laschet to reconsider, with several senior voices in his party arguing that the elections did not give him a mandate to try and form a coalition with him as chancellor.
Seventy-one per cent of Germans see it as clearly or at least somewhat wrong for Laschet to claim the chancellorship, according to the Civey Institute survey carried out on behalf of the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
Twenty-two per cent of around 5,000 respondents were in favour of Laschet's plans.
Among supporters of the CDU/CSU conservative bloc, 55 per cent back Laschet in the fight to succeed outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, while 32 per cent think it is wrong for Laschet to lead the next government.
An Insa poll in Tuesday's Bild newspaper that asked whether Laschet should stay on as leader of the CDU returned 21 per cent with yes and 51 per cent with no, with the rest saying they didn't care or didn't know. Only 13 per cent wanted Laschet as chancellor.
A third poll, by infratest dimap for broadcaster ARD, indicated that a majority of 55 per cent of the public would support a three-way coalition of Scholz's SPD with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.
