71% of Germans against Merkel's return as chancellor: Poll

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The majority of Germans are against a comeback by former Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a recent poll. Merkel left her position as the head of the nation's government just over a year ago.

According to gathered data by the Civey polling institute on behalf of the Funke Media Group and reported by several German media outlets on Saturday, 71% of respondents would not want to see the former leader back in the office, while 23% would welcome her return.

However, 43% of Germans think Olaf Scholz, the present Chancellor, is better than her, while 41% of people express the opposing opinion.

Merkel served as the leader of four successive German governments for 16 years, falling just a few days short of Helmut Kohl's record-breaking tenure as Chancellor.

She has come under fire since leaving the office for the way her energy strategy left Germany reliant on imported Russian electricity. However, the former Chancellor defended her choices by asserting that buying Russian gas was the most effective step toward a sustainable future.

In a lengthy interview she gave earlier this week to the German weekly Der Spiegel, she stated that she was not surprised by the dispute between Moscow and Kiev at the time since "the Minsk Agreements were eroded." She added that she had hoped for a new conversation framework between Russia and the EU but was unable to make it happen.