Social Democratic Party: 84.6% of Members Vote in Favor
A grand coalition between progressive and conservative parties is set to launch in Germany for the first time in three years and five months. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has decided to form a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) alliance.
According to multiple foreign media outlets on April 30 (local time), the SPD announced that, in a vote involving all 358,000 party members, 84.6% were in favor and 15.4% were opposed, thereby approving the coalition agreement with the CDU-CSU alliance. Previously, the CDU-CSU alliance had held an extraordinary party congress, where delegates voted to participate in the coalition.
This left-right grand coalition is the first in three years and five months since former Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped down in December 2021, and the fifth such coalition since the establishment of the West German Constituent Assembly in 1949.
The SPD reported that co-leader Lars Klingbeil will serve as the next federal vice chancellor and finance minister. The CDU-CSU alliance has decided that CDU leader Friedrich Merz will become chancellor, while the finance minister post will be handed over to the SPD.
Under the coalition agreement, of the 17 ministerial positions, the CDU and SPD will each receive seven, while the CSU, a regional party in Bavaria and the CDU's sister party, will receive three. SPD Secretary General Matthias Miersch stated that leader Klingbeil will appoint the remaining six ministers. The CDU-CSU alliance announced its ten ministerial candidates the previous day, including Economy Minister candidate Katherina Reiche.
The formation of the new government will be completed when Merz is elected chancellor in the Bundestag on June 6, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appoints the ministers.
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