BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel cleared the last major hurdle on her path to a fourth term Sunday, after members of the center-left Social Democrats voted in favor of continuing their governing coalition with her conservative bloc.
The decision ends almost six months of political uncertainty in Germany, the longest time the country has been without a government in its postwar history. The period saw the rise of a new rightist force in German politics and raised questions about Merkel's future.
Parliament is expected to meet March 14 to re-elect Merkel as chancellor.
Merkel's survival drew cheers from her allies at home and abroad, with French President Emmanuel Macron declaring it "good news for Europe."
"France and Germany will work together in the coming weeks to develop new initiatives and advance the European project," Macron said in a statement.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel expressed hope that the end of Germany's six-month political limbo would allow the European Union to step up efforts to deal with such issues as immigration, security and trade.
Merkel has drawn flak from both left and right in Germany for maintaining a centrist course since taking office in 2005. With the coalition approved, she can now turn her attention to tackling rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany while pushing efforts to make changes to the EU.
The Social Democrats had furiously debated whether to extend the so-called grand coalition of left and right for another four years after suffering a slump in September's election. In the end, about 66 percent of the valid votes cast by the party's 464,000 members favored a coalition deal with Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party. That's down from the 76 percent of Social Democrats who voted in 2013 to back a government with Merkel.
Had the longtime German leader faced a "no" result, she would have been left with only two realistic options: forming a minority government or seeking a new election.
In the next few days, the Social Democrats will put forward six names -- three women and three men -- to lead the ministries they will control in the upcoming coalition, he said.
"This was a really important democratic decision for our country," said acting Social Democrat leader Olaf Scholz, who is in line to become Germany's next finance minister and Merkel's deputy.
After September's national election, which saw the Social Democrats received just 20.5 percent of the vote and the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party come in third place, Martin Schulz, then the Social Democrats' leader, ruled out another grand coalition with Merkel. This forced Merkel to negotiate with two smaller parties, one of which eventually rejected a deal.
Many Social Democrats, particularly on the left, had argued that the party failed to make its mark on the last government and wouldn't benefit from propping up Merkel for another term.
The head of the Social Democrats' youth wing, Kevin Kuehnert, said he was disappointed by the outcome but insisted the membership ballot had resulted in an important political debate inside the party and beyond.
"The SPD needs to be more like it's been in the last weeks and less like in the last years," he said, using the German acronym for the Social Democrats.
The Social Democrats agreed to a deal that gives them control of the foreign, labor and finance ministries in return for supporting curbs on immigration.
Conservatives in Merkel's bloc have demanded the country of about 80 million take in no more than about 200,000 migrants a year. Immigration is expected to be a key issue in this fall's state election in Bavaria, where Merkel's allies fear the fallout from her open-door policies.
A Section on 03/05/2018