1st LD: German SPD gives greenlight to formal coalition talks with Merkel's Union

BONN, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Delegates from Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Sunday voted in favor of formal coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel-led Conservatives Union.

Among over 600 delegates attending the special congress in Bonn, 362 voted "yes" to further coalition talks with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), while 279 delegates voted against it.

The decision, which was made after confrontational and emotional debates among delegates, cleared the way to form a renewed Grand Coalition between the SPD and the Union, almost four months after the federal elections in which both of the two blocs suffered worst turnovers since 1949.

The special congress came after the SPD and the Union reached the breakthrough on Jan. 12 in exploratory coalition talks, and the two blocs now will kick off formal coalition negotiations in few days. Enditem