SPD counts votes after member consultation

berlin - Around 120 employees of the German Social Democratic Party SPD are preparing for a long night. They count the votes of party members who have spoken by letter about a new coalition with their party and the Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel.

The red crates with ballots were unloaded under police surveillance on Saturday afternoon at the SPD headquarters, the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin. SPDs who are involved in counting the votes must hand in their phones before they get started. The outcome is expected to be announced on Sunday.

In total, nearly 464,000 party members were allowed to comment on the new 'GroKo', a so-called big coalition with the Christian Democratic CDU / CSU. The parties had previously reached an agreement about forming a government. After that, the SPD members got the last word about whether Germany would get a new government more than five months after the parliamentary elections.