President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked Herbert Kickl, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), with the formation of a new government.
Van der Bellen’s offer came after on Saturday.
What we know about the decision
Kickl’s party won the Austrian parliamentary election in September, taking 28.8% of the vote and beating outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) into second place.
However, Van der Bellen had tasked Nehammer with putting together a new government because no other party was willing to work with Kickl.
“I did not take this step lightly,” said Van der Bellen, who commissioned Kickl to hold coalition talks with the conservative ÖVP.
The previous coalition negotiations between the ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) failed, as had three-way talks the also involved the liberal Neos party.
“Respect for the voters’ vote requires that the federal president respects the majority,” said Van der Bellen, even if he had other wishes and ideas.
Kickl had assured him that he was confident of finding viable solutions in the context of government negotiations — “and he wants this responsibility,” Van der Bellen added.
rc/kb (AFP, dpa)
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