Majority of Germans want defence minister to resign: poll

A majority of Germans surveyed want to see embattled Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resign, according to a new opinion poll from one of the country's public broadcasters, reported dpa.

According to the ZDF poll, 60% favoured the resignation of Lambrecht, a Social Democrat, while only 25% supported her continuing in office. Half of Social Democratic voters asked in the poll also said she should resign.

The conservative CDU/CSU opposition bloc has already called for Lambrecht to step down.

Lambrecht has faced intense criticism in Germany over her competence as well as her public comments, including a New Year's Eve message posted to Instagram in which Lambrecht discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine while fireworks exploded behind her.

The Politbarometer poll was conducted by the Mannheim-based research group Wahlen on behalf of broadcaster ZDF. The poll interviewed 1,259 voters from Tuesday until Thursday of this week.