Social Democrats Back Merkel Coalition

Dec. 14, 2013 10:26 a.m. ETBERLIN—Germany’s left-leaning Social Democrats on Saturday approved a governing pact with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in a mail-in referendum.
The move cements a centrist government seen broadly maintaining Ms. Merkel’s policy on Europe’s debt crisis for the bloc’s powerhouse economy over the next four years.

Chairman of the German Social Democrats Sigmar Gabriel, right, announces the result of the SPD member vote on the coalition agreement with Angela Merkel’s conservatives. European Pressphoto Agency

Of the center-left party’s members who took part in the vote, 256,643, or 76%, said yes to a governing pact with Ms. Merkel’s conservatives, senior party member Barbara Hendricks said in Berlin, after volunteers counted mailed-in ballots through the night.
The result removes the final uncertainty in Germany’s roughly three-month process to form a new government. The bipartisan coalition is likely to broadly maintain Ms. Merkel’s previous policy on Europe’s debt crisis—a combination of offering loans to troubled euro-zone countries while also demanding overhauls of the economy and public finances.
While Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats emerged from Germany’s elections in September as easily the strongest party, they fell just short of an outright majority in parliament, forcing them to seek a left-of-center coalition partner. After prolonged talks with the SPD, the two parties agreed a coalition deal which saw Ms. Merkel and Germany nudge to the left on a few economic and social issues, like introducing a blanket minimum wage.
Social Democrat chairman Sigmar Gabriel thanked party members at the polling station Saturday, and said he would now strive “over the next four years to convince the 24% [who voted no] that the 76% were right.”
Mr. Gabriel declined to confirm the lineup of the next cabinet during the event.
Mr. Gabriel is set to become minister for energy and the economy, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. That would mean Mr. Gabriel takes charge of Germany’s problem-plagued shift toward renewable energy and away from nuclear and fossil fuels, one of the government’s biggest headaches.
The most powerful job in the German government after Ms. Merkel’s, however—that of finance minister—is set to remain in the hands of her Christian Democrat colleague, Wolfgang Schäuble, the person said. The SPD is set to nominate Frank-Walter Steinmeier as foreign minister, reprising his role in Ms. Merkel’s first government, the person said.
-Andrea Thomas and Nicky Redl contributed to this article.
Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com

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