Martin Schulz, head of the German Social Democrats (SPD), looks on at the SPD federal congress on January 21, 2018 in Bonn, Germany | Maja Hitij/Getty Images SPD gives green light to ‘grand coalition’ talks Decision moves Germany closer to forming a new government.

BONN, Germany — Germany's Social Democrats voted Sunday to push forward on formal coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, increasing the likelihood of another "grand coalition" between the country's two largest political parties.

The decision came at a special party convention in the former West German capital of Bonn after several hours of often emotional debate over the direction of the party. The vote — 362 in favor, 279 against, with one abstention — was closer than the SPD's leadership, which pushed hard for a "Yes" vote, had hoped.

Earlier this month, the SPD leadership agreed with Merkel's Christian Democrats on a blueprint for another grand coalition that will serve as the basis for the upcoming talks. If the two sides agree on a deal, the SPD's 440,000 members would still have to give their approval before a government can be formed. That means a new coalition isn't likely to take office until around Easter.

If approved, the government would be Germany's third grand coalition since 2005.

SPD leader Martin Schulz, who initially opposed a grand coalition, made an impassioned plea for delegates to support his course at the beginning of the convention, arguing that the party had a responsibility to its own voters as well as Germany's European partners, who are counting on Berlin to push the EU's reform agenda forward.

“I’m asking for your trust,” Schulz told the delegates, adding that turning away from further coalition talks would be “reckless.”

While Schulz can now go ahead with the talks, he failed to win the strong endorsement he was looking for.

In a parade of three-minute-long speeches that followed Schulz's hour-long opening address, dozens of delegates shared their own views on a renewal of the grand coalition, most of them negative.

Despite a tepid response to Schulz's speech and the loud resistance to another "GroKo" (grand coalition) in the convention hall, a quiet, if not silent, majority prevailed. In addition to the party's senior leadership, other key power players, including labor unions, voiced their strong support.

The SPD's youth wing, known as the Jusos, were greeted with cheers and loud applause as they presented their "No GroKo" position, arguing that the party needed to reinvent itself in opposition after suffering its worst postwar election result in September. Another coalition with Merkel would only do further damage to the party's image as a force for social change, they said.