Despite a historic election victory for the right-wing FPÖ in Austria in September, the party does not seem to get a place in the government offices.
The President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, on Tuesday asked the sitting chancellor, Karl Nehammer from the conservative ÖVP, to try to form a government.
Van der Bellen has noted after initial discussions over the past few days that no one wants to work with the FPÖ – the Austrian Freedom Party – under chairman Herbert Kickl.
Therefore, conservative Nehammer has been given the task of trying to find a government together with the social democratic SPÖ.
In addition, a third party will be needed in the government, says Nehammer, according to the Reuters news agency.
– To ensure a stable parliamentary majority, a third partner is needed, he says.
But it is unlikely to be the highly immigration-critical FPÖ, which otherwise won the largest vote in September with just under 29 percent of the vote.
Meanwhile, both the ÖVP and the SPÖ withdrew.
The ÖVP ended up with 26 percent of the vote, while voters sent the SPÖ down to an unprecedented low with just over 21 percent of the vote.
The election in Austria was called historic by many.
It was the first time that a far-right party became the largest party in the Austrian parliament since World War II.
Van der Bellen says the party leaders from the ÖVP and SPÖ have explained to him that they do not want to govern the FPÖ together, as they are concerned about democracy and the rule of law.
They also referred to the FPÖ’s pro-Russian positions and that foreign intelligence agencies have expressed concern.
– Austria needs a government that is active, stable and has integrity, says the president.
When the ÖVP and SPÖ have to look for a third government partner, they can, for example, look to the liberals from the Neos party, which got 9.1 percent of the vote, or the Greens, which got 8.2 percent of the vote.
The Greens are part of the current government coalition together with the ÖVP.
The ÖVP has previously governed with the FPÖ as a junior partner in a government – namely in 2000 and again in 2017.
/ritzau/dpa
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
