Center-left party approves German coalition deal, paving the way for Merz to be elected chancellor

BERLIN (AP) — Germany ’s center-left Social Democrats have approved a deal to join a new coalition government, paving the way for parliament to elect conservative leader Friedrich Merz as the country’s new chancellor.

The party of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholtz will join a coalition led by Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, which won Germany’s election in February with 28.5%.

The Social Democrats suffered their worst result since World War II, finishing third with just 16.4% of the vote. But the conservatives need their support to assemble a parliamentary majority without the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, which finished second.

The Social Democrats put a coalition agreement reached in early April to an online ballot of their 358,000-plus members, who voted over the last two weeks. The party’s youth wing had come out against the deal.

The party announced Wednesday that 56% of their members voted in the poll, of which 84.6% cast their ballots in favor.

The deal gives the Social Democrats the crucial finance, justice and defense ministries, among others. The CDU and CSU previously approved the agreement.

The lower house of the German parliament will meet on May 6 to elect Merz as the country’s 10th leader since World War II.

The coalition aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization for the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member. Germany has the continent’s biggest economy.

The coalition has a relatively modest majority, with 328 of the Bundestag’s 630 seats.

The Union and Social Democrats have governed Germany together before: once in the 1960s, and then in three of the four terms of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who led the country from 2005 to 2021.

Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at the last expected cabinet meeting of his government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at the last expected cabinet meeting of his government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, center, arrives at the last expected cabinet meeting of his government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch announces the result of the members' vote for the coalition between the CDU, CSU and SPD at the Willy Brandt House in Berlin, Germanym Wednesday April 30, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

FILE -Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), left, and Friedrich Merz, right, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are pictured in tv studio ahead of a debate in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 19, 2025. (Fabrizio Bensch/Pool Photo via AP, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)