BERLIN (Reuters) - The result of a ballot of the Social Democrats’ (SPD) roughly 464,000 members on whether to join a coalition with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc that would end political limbo in Europe’s largest economy will be announced on Sunday.

A postal ballot paper of one of Germany's 464,000 Social Democrats (SPD) is pictured, as a party member votes on whether the party should go ahead with the coalition agreement its leaders clinched this month with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic party (CDU/CSU) in Berlin, Germany, February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

The outcome of the vote is unclear. A poll released on Wednesday showed 56 percent of SPD voters favored another tie-up with Merkel but it surveyed a far broader group than the party members taking part in the decisive ballot.

The SPD’s Barbara Hendricks, who is environment minister in Germany’s outgoing coalition, said on Thursday she expected members to back a new alliance with Merkel’s conservatives by a margin of 60 percent.

But Kevin Kuehnert, leader of the SPD’s youth wing, told Reuters on Friday he was optimistic that party members would reject such an alliance.

Many senior figures in Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) want to try out a minority government if the SPD members reject a ‘grand coalition’.

In November - after the collapse of coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and ecologist Greens - Merkel said she would prefer a new election to leading a minority government. But she has since been more guarded on that issue.

Many in the Christian Social Union (CSU) - the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s CDU - along with many in the SPD want a new election if SPD members vote ‘No’ to a grand coalition.

Here is an outline of what will happen if SPD delegates vote against coalition talks.

* The onus shifts to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to decide how to proceed. He would meet with Merkel and could urge her to try to form another coalition. She could try to build a three-way alliance of the conservatives, FDP and the Greens. But these unnatural partners are unlikely to want to join forces after their initial attempt at building an alliance collapsed in November when the FDP spectacularly walked out of talks, eroding trust between them.

* Merkel - or another candidate if her conservatives take the unlikely decision to oust her - could decide to head up a minority government in what would be a post-war first for Germany. If she were to form such a government, the procedure would be as follows:

* Steinmeier would set a date for a ‘chancellor vote’ in the Bundestag lower house of parliament and suggest Merkel run. If she gets an absolute majority, she becomes chancellor.

* If she fails to get an absolute majority in that first round of voting, another vote can be held within 14 days.

* If she fails to get an absolute majority in the second round, a third vote is held. If she gets a plurality in that vote, Steinmeier would need to appoint her chancellor within seven days. If she does not get a plurality, Steimeier would have seven days to decide whether to appoint her as a minority chancellor or dissolve parliament and call a new election.

* If Steinmeier were to call a new election, it would have to take place within 60 days. While Merkel’s personal ratings are slipping, she has said she would want to run for the conservatives if another poll is held.

* Once Merkel has become chancellor, she could ask for a confidence vote in parliament. She could force a new election by urging her allies and other lawmakers to vote against her. </s> Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Counting went on all night at SPD headquarters in Berlin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to form her fourth government after the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) voted in favour of another grand coalition.

The vote by 464,000 rank-and-file members ends five months of political deadlock since September's election.

The SPD had been split between the party's leadership, which backed joining the coalition, and its radical youth wing, which did not.

Mrs Merkel, who has been in power for 12 years, congratulated the SPD.

On her party's Twitter feed, she said she "looks forward to working together again for the benefit of our country".

SPD voters approved continuing the coalition with 66% in favour. The party leadership had been concerned younger voters might veto a deal. Vote counting went on through the night at the party headquarters in Berlin.

Interim SPD leader Olaf Scholz declared: "Now we have clarity. The SPD will enter the next government".

The chancellor now faces a range of challenges, including strong opposition from the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The anti-immigrant party entered the federal parliament for the first time in September with just over 12% of the vote and now makes up the largest opposition group.

Image copyright AFP Image caption SPD members applaud as the result is announced

The SPD suffered its worst ever election result and many blamed their coalition with Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) for that poor performance.

Mrs Merkel, who also did badly, losing 65 seats, had tried and failed to form an alliance with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens.

She was forced to pay a higher price for continuing the existing coalition - the new finance minister will be a Social Democrat.

The SPD will now decide who will fill the six ministerial roles it is entitled to before Mrs Merkel's expected election by parliament on 14 March.

Martin Schulz, the former high-profile SPD chairman, had put himself forward as a possible foreign minister, but dropped the plan amid internal party squabbles over who should fill the post.

He had also annoyed many party members by first ruling out a coalition in the aftermath of the SPD's poor election showing only to enter talks later.

The end to uncertainty, including the possibility of fresh elections, will be greeted with relief in the European Union's institutions, where Germany, Europe's largest economy, is a major influence.

Merkel has her work cut out

Analysis by Jenny Hill, BBC News, Berlin

Germany has waited nearly six months for this. Its new government is a continuation of the last one - a coalition between Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats, or SPD.

Mrs Merkel will no doubt be relieved. But this is no glorious victory. The SPD - which had the final say on the coalition deal - has torn itself apart over the decision to renew the alliance. Many members still oppose it and the internal schism has worsened what were already dismal approval ratings.

There's also limited public enthusiasm for the union. Months of political wrangling (don't forget Mrs Merkel tried - and failed - to form a coalition with the Green and FDP parties) have done little to inspire confidence in Germany's established parties.

Angela Merkel, herself profoundly damaged by the whole episode, has her work cut out now if she's to deliver the stability she promised her country. </s> Members of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Sunday voted in favour of a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

Over 66 percent voted "yes", Dietmar Nietan, head of the SPD Mandate and Counting Commission, announced at a press conference at the SPD Headquarters.

The 463,723 party members had between February 20 and Friday midnight to decide if they approved of their party again being part of a government led by Merkel, reports Efe news.

The conditions of the pact and the concrete measures that will be implemented were detailed in a 177-page deal that was negotiated between January and February.

It includes key proposals of the SPD and assigns major ministries such as finance and foreign affairs to the SPD.

The result ended a five-month-long political stalemate after the September 24, 2017, Federal Parliament elections.

Merkel is poised to be elected as the new chancellor in the March 14 plenary session of the Bundestag, the Federal Parliament. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - The result of a ballot of the Social Democrats’ (SPD) roughly 464,000 members on whether to join a coalition with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc that would end political limbo in Europe’s largest economy will be announced on Sunday.

The outcome of the vote is unclear. A poll released on Wednesday showed 56 percent of SPD voters favored another tie-up with Merkel but it surveyed a far broader group than the party members taking part in the decisive ballot.

The SPD’s Barbara Hendricks, who is environment minister in Germany’s outgoing coalition, said on Thursday she expected members to back a new alliance with Merkel’s conservatives by a margin of 60 percent.

But Kevin Kuehnert, leader of the SPD’s youth wing, told Reuters on Friday he was optimistic that party members would reject such an alliance.

Many senior figures in Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) want to try out a minority government if the SPD members reject a‘grand coalition’.

In November - after the collapse of coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and ecologist Greens - Merkel said she would prefer a new election to leading a minority government. But she has since been more guarded on that issue.

Many in the Christian Social Union (CSU) - the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s CDU - along with many in the SPD want a new election if SPD members vote‘No’ to a grand coalition.

Here is an outline of what will happen if SPD delegates vote against coalition talks.

* The onus shifts to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to decide how to proceed. He would meet with Merkel and could urge her to try to form another coalition. She could try to build a three-way alliance of the conservatives, FDP and the Greens. But these unnatural partners are unlikely to want to join forces after their initial attempt at building an alliance collapsed in November when the FDP spectacularly walked out of talks, eroding trust between them.

* Merkel - or another candidate if her conservatives take the unlikely decision to oust her - could decide to head up a minority government in what would be a post-war first for Germany. If she were to form such a government, the procedure would be as follows:

* Steinmeier would set a date for a‘chancellor vote’ in the Bundestag lower house of parliament and suggest Merkel run. If she gets an absolute majority, she becomes chancellor.

* If she fails to get an absolute majority in that first round of voting, another vote can be held within 14 days.

* If she fails to get an absolute majority in the second round, a third vote is held. If she gets a plurality in that vote, Steinmeier would need to appoint her chancellor within seven days. If she does not get a plurality, Steimeier would have seven days to decide whether to appoint her as a minority chancellor or dissolve parliament and call a new election.

* If Steinmeier were to call a new election, it would have to take place within 60 days. While Merkel’s personal ratings are slipping, she has said she would want to run for the conservatives if another poll is held.

* Once Merkel has become chancellor, she could ask for a confidence vote in parliament. She could force a new election by urging her allies and other lawmakers to vote against her. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and Europe would both suffer if the Social Democrats (SPD) vote‘no’ in a ballot on a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, a senior party official said.

The SPD’s 464,000 members have been voting in a postal ballot on whether to endorse their party leadership’s decision to renew for another four years the‘grand coalition’ with Merkel’s conservative bloc that took office in 2013. The result is due on Sunday.

Stephan Weil, SPD premier of the state of Lower Saxony, said during his last visit to Brussels everyone he had spoken to was adamant Germany should not drift into uncertainty.

“It would be bad for Europe, Germany and the SPD. There would be a period of political uncertainty,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is keen to push ahead with reforms to the euro zone, but without a German government in place soon the window of opportunity to inject fresh dynamism into the European project will quickly close for this year.

Asked in an interview with daily Die Welt if an SPD‘no’ vote would result in a national crisis, Weil said:“No, I wouldn’t go that far, but many people’s confidence in our political system would erode even further.”

The SPD’s Jusos youth wing has been lobbying party members to vote against a re-run of the grand coalition, arguing they would do better to rebuild in opposition after suffering a battering in last September’s election.

Weil conceded that if he were a Jusos member he would think about voting‘no’, but decades of party membership had convinced him the SPD should solve its problems itself rather than use them as a reason not to take part in government.

Merkel’s conservatives entered into coalition talks with the SPD this year after talks with two smaller parties on a three-way tie-up collapsed in November.

Jens Spahn, a member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) who has been critical of her at times, said the coalition agreement conservative and SPD leaders struck last month“is no furious firework of innovation”.

“The coalition agreement is a large compromise document,” Spahn, who is due to become health minister if the coalition takes office, told Handelsblatt business daily.

Spahn’s lukewarm support for the coalition deal highlights the risk that the alliance proves fractious and unstable.

The inclusion in the deal of a clause that envisages a review of the next government’s progress after two years has fuelled a debate about a succession plan for a post-Merkel era.

On Monday, Merkel ally Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer won election as CDU general secretary, putting her in pole position to succeed the chancellor after spending most of her career in a tiny state on the French border.

Spahn said he would support Merkel for the full legislative period and she should remain CDU leader through to 2021. </s> The members of Germany's left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD) have voted in favor of a new grand coalition under Christian Democrat (CDU) Chancellor Angela Merkel, the SPD announced from its Berlin headquarters on March 4 after a postal ballot.

The vote by 460,000 rank-and-file members ends about five months of political deadlock in the European Union's most-populous country.

Sixty-six percent of the Social Democratic Party's rank and file backed a new partnership with Merkel's conservatives.

The decision clears the last major hurdle to the formation of a new government and a fourth term for Merkel.

Merkel congratulated the Social Democrats (SPD) on a "clear result" on Twitter.

"I congratulate the SPD on this clear result and look forward to continuing to work together for the good of our country," Merkel wrote on March 4 on her Christian Democrats' (CDU) Twitter feed.

Parliament is expected to meet next week to elect Merkel as chancellor.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and the BBC </s> German's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to form a grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the CDU, after months of political uncertainty. The deal was reached despite divisions within the SPD.Some 66 percent of the SPD members approved entering a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), the social democrats' official confirmed on Sunday after a postal ballot.Almost 464,000 members were eligible for voting, with a total of 378,437 having cast their ballot, NTV reports "We now have clarity," SPD chief Olaf Schols announced in the party's HQ in Berlin. He added that he'll work on putting a cabinet together this week. Scholz has already informed Merkel on his party fellows' decision. The acting Chancellor congratulated the SPD on the "clear result," saying she is looking forward to continuing work with the Social Democrats. If the Social Democrat members voted against the talks, it would almost certainly trigger fresh elections that could end Merkel's 12-year leadership of the country.In late February CDU on its part approved a coalition deal with the SPD. The Christian Democrats' conference in Berlin followed Merkel's announcement of her picks for a new, younger cabinet intended to rejuvenate the party.The stalemate to form a government has lasted for months, following the September 24 general election. Shortly after the polls, in which Merkel's party along with the SPD saw a dramatic drop in voter support, the chancellor attempted to form so-called 'Jamaica' coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens.The option evaporated as the FDP pulled out of the negotiations, with divisions over immigration being among the key stumbling blocks. Merkel was then forced to look for another coalition partner to avoid new polls or forming a minority government.Former SPD leader Martin Schulz repeatedly ruled out forming a coalition with the CDU both in the run-up to the September elections and after them. The parties locked horns over their vision for Europe, among other issues. Schultz has advocated strongly for the creation of a 'United States of Europe' under a single constitution by 2025. This position has received little support from CDU members.The potential new alliance with Merkel was also met with vehement opposition from some SPD members, especially within the party's youth wing. Against all odds and despite internal divisions in the SPD, the two parties finally reached a coalition deal in February. </s> Members of Germany's Social Democrat Party (SPD) have voted in favour of entering a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in a postal ballot, according to a statement by the party.

The vote clears the way for a rerun of the "grand coalition" that has governed Germany since 2013. It also puts an end to more than four months of political uncertainty in Europe's largest economy by making Merkel the country's chancellor for the fourth term.

SPD acting leader Olaf Scholz said on Saturday turnout in the poll had been "very, very high" after an intense internal campaign that pitted the party's pro-coalition leadership against its more left-wing youth wing, which campaigned for "no".

Representatives from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, alongside partners from the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party, agreed on terms with SPD negotiators for a new partnership last month.

Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane, reporting from the capital Berlin, said that two-thirds of the party members voted to form another grand coalition with Merkel's bloc.

"It is a decisive majority, but there is no sense of jubilation among the SDP leadership," he said.

"The heads, rather than the hearts of the party members, made this decision. They believe being in coalition with Merkel costs this party votes."

Many in the party, including former leader Martin Schulz, had ruled out forming a coalition with Merkel's conservatives, saying that September's poll results - which saw the SPD recording its worst post-war election performance, at 20.5 percent - had directed the party to go into opposition.

However, the SPD agreed to negotiate with Merkel's conservatives after talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmentalist Greens on a three-way tie-up collapsed in November.

Schulz, the who led the party during the elections, quit in the process of the coalition talks.

The SPD has already been the junior partner in two Merkel-led "grand coalitions", from 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2017.

Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance had finished first, securing 33 percent of the vote, down nine percentage points from 2013.

The biggest shock, however, was the emergence of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the country's third-biggest political force, winning a 12.6 percent share of the vote. </s> Members of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) voted 66 per cent in favour of entering a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, an SPD official said on Sunday after a postal ballot.

The vote clears the way for a re-run of the “grand coalition” that has governed Germany since 2013, putting an end to more than four months of political uncertainty in Europe’s largest economy.

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Postal ballots of the 2018 SPD coalition party member vote are due. The vote will determine if the SPD is allowed to form a coalition with Angela Merkel's CDU.