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 The results of the referendum are expected to be announced between
4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (1500-1700 GMT / 10:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EST ) by
SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel, who has fought an uphill battle to
convince party members to back the deal with their arch rivals.
Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party,
the Christian Social Union (CSU), won the September 22 election but
fell short of a majority. They need a partner and spent much of the
last three months negotiating a coalition agreement with the SPD, a
distant second in September.
To overcome the deep skepticism about joining forces with Merkel in
a "grand coalition", Gabriel took the unprecedented step of giving
all 475,000 SPD members the chance to vote on it. Conservatives
already approved the deal.
"I'd expect about 70 percent to back the agreement," SPD treasurer
Barbara Hendricks told reporters at a warehouse in Berlin where the
ballots were being counted. A truck delivered crates of postal
ballots just after midnight and 400 volunteers began counting the
votes at around 10 a.m. (0900 GMT / 4:00 a.m. EST).
If, as is now widely expected, the center-left SPD votes in favor of
the "grand coalition" agreement, the coalition agreement would be
signed on Monday and Merkel's new government could be sworn into
office on Tuesday. Despite her new government having a four-fifths
majority in parliament, Merkel's third four-year term could be more
difficult and more domestically focused than her first two terms
that were heavily shaped by the global financial crisis and turmoil
in the euro zone.
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The SPD, still struggling to overcome the steep drop in support from
the 2005-09 "grand coalition" under Merkel, could prove to be less
pliant junior partners this time around.
Thanks to what analysts called a clever strategic move to ask
grassroots members to vote on the coalition, the SPD forced Merkel
to accept many of the SPD's leftist policies even though the
conservatives scored 41.5 percent of the vote in September compared
to 25.7 for the SPD.
The SPD will nevertheless get six of the 15 cabinet posts — expected
to be formally named on Sunday. SPD sources on Friday said Gabriel
would be Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister while Frank-Walter
Steinmeier would be Foreign Minister again.
SPD sources added that Wolfgang Schaeuble would remain finance
minister.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Janet Lawrence)
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