German Government finally formed

Stuff reports:

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 favour 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 post-war history.

“I congratulate the SPD on this clear result and look forward to continuing to work together for the good of our country,” Merkel’s party quoted her saying on Twitter. 

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 last September’s election. In the end, almost two-thirds of the valid votes cast by the party’s 464,000 members favoured a coalition deal with Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party.

The coalition of the two big parties should be a stable Government but such coalitions tend to allow more extremist parties to gain support as they become the only opposition.