Berlin: A clear majority of Germans are in favour of putting a limit on how long a politician can serve as the country’s Chancellor, according to a new survey.
In a survey by the opinion research firm YouGov on behalf of dpa news agency, 61 per cent of respondents were in favour of a term limit while 24 per cent were against.
Fifteen per cent declined to give a response.
A Chancellor can be re-elected indefinitely in Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to leave office after 16 years following national elections in September.
Going farther back, Helmut Kohl, who served as Chancellor from 1982 to 1998, was also in the position for 16 years.
Konrad Adenauer served as Chancellor of West Germany for 14 years, from 1949 to 1963.
The survey showed the desire to put a time limit on the chancellorship was strongest among supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), with 80 per cent in favour.
Support was weakest among Merkel’s centre-right CDU/CSU bloc at only 48 per cent.
The survey involved 2,085 people between May 21 and 24.
The results were weighted to be representative of the German population aged 18 and over.
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