Germany ’s center-left Social Democrats have approved a deal to join a new coalition government, paving the way for parliament to elect conservative leader Friedrich Merz as the country’s new chancellor.
The party of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholtz will join a coalition led by Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, which won Germany’s election in February with 28.5%.
The Social Democrats suffered their worst result since World War II, finishing third with just 16.4% of the vote. But the conservatives need their support to assemble a parliamentary majority without the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, which finished second.
The Social Democrats put a coalition agreement reached in early April to an online ballot of their 358,000-plus members, who voted over the last two weeks. The party’s youth wing had come out against the deal.
The party announced Wednesday that 56% of their members voted in the poll, of which 84.6% cast their ballots in favor.
The deal gives the Social Democrats the crucial finance, justice and defense ministries, among others. The CDU and CSU previously approved the agreement.
Source:AP
