BERLIN, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- German conservative leader Angela Merkel is to become the country's first woman chancellor under a deal stricken by her party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the German media reported on Monday.

    Merkel "apparently has a green light to be the next German leader" after the SPD agreed that Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) will "supply the new head of the government," German news agency Deutsche Presse Agenture (DPA) quoted informed sources as saying.

    A press conference is expected to be held following Merkel's another face-to-face meeting with incumbent chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Franz Muentefering, the Social Democrats' party chief, and Edmund Stoiber, head of the Christian Democrats' Bavarian sister party.

    A deal between the two parties on the formation of a new government could be announced at their joint press conference.

    But Germany's election law prescribes that the chancellor should be elected by the Bundestag or the lower house of the parliament.

    In this sense, an agreement between the SPD and CDU/CSU is "nota done deal" as several SPD members have vowed to vote against Merkel in the Bundestag. Enditem