Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has tasked former Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who heads the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), with forming a government. He is urgently expected to start coalition talks with the Social Democrats.
Despite winning the parliamentary elections, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has dropped out of the race for cabinet portfolios. After talks between the three largest parties, President Alexander Van der Bellen said it had become clear that FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl “will not be able to find a coalition partner to make him chancellor.”
The 80-year-old president said in a televised address:
“The parliamentary election on 29 September is not a race in which the party that crosses the finish line first automatically gets to form the government. If a party wants to govern alone, it must clear the 50% hurdle. It is not sufficient to reach 10, 20 or 30%.”
Van der Bellen said he had asked current chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose conservative party came second with 26.3 per cent, to hold coalition talks with the Social Democrats, who came third with 21 per cent.
However, a coalition between the Conservatives and the Social Democrats would only have a one-seat majority.
In a statement to the media, Nehammer said that a third partner is needed to ensure a stable parliamentary majority. That third party could be either the Greens or the Liberal Neo. Nehammer said he could not say “whether these negotiations will lead to the formation of a government.” He also added:
“What I can promise you, however, is that I will act in the spirit of stability, reliability and responsibility for our country.”
The FPÖ strongly condemned Van der Bellen’s decision, calling it a “black day for democracy.” The party’s Vienna branch expressed discontent at the prospect of new government terms. The Vienna state party spoke of a “black day for democracy,” while Salzburg’s FPÖ saw it as “another five lost years.”
The FPÖ came first in the September 29 National Council elections, ahead of the ÖVP and SPÖ. A two-party coalition with a majority could have consisted of the FPÖ and ÖVP. However, the combined number of mandates ÖVP and SPÖ have is only one more than that, making it difficult to form a coalition without involving a third party. The NEOS party has signalled its willingness to engage in “serious preliminary talks.”
Thus, entrusting the formation of the government to Nehammer was a precedent: it is the first time in the history of Austria that the president did not entrust the leader of the strongest party in the election with the creation of the government.
