Austria’s conservatives to form government after far right is shunned

Austria’s President, Alexander Van der Bellen, has asked the leader of the conservative People’s Party (OVP) and incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer to form a coalition government – despite the fact that the far-right Freedom Party won the general election last month.

The anti-immigrant, Russia-friendly Freedom Party came top in the election in September with almost 29% of the vote and its leader, Herbert Kickl, said he should lead the next government.

However all the other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with him.

Following talks among the three largest parties, President Alexander Van der Bellen said it was clear that Kickl “would not be able to find a coalition partner who would make him Chancellor.”

“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,” the 80-year-old president said in a televised address.

“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 has asked the current Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, whose conservative party came second with 26.3% to hold coalition talks with the Social Democrats, who came third, with 21%.

However a coalition between the conservatives and the Social Democrats would only have a majority of one seat.

In a statement to the media, Nehammer said that in order to ensure a stable parliamentary majority, a third partner would be needed.

That third party could be either the Greens or the liberal Neos.

Nehammer said he couldn’t tell “whether these talks and negotiations will actually lead to the formation of a government.”

“What I can promise you, however, is that I will act in the spirit of stability, reliability and responsibility for our country.”

In a statement on Facebook, Herbert Kickl said that the President had broken with the “tried and tested normal processes” of Austria’s republic, by not entrusting the winner of the election with the task of forming a government.

“This might seem like a slap in the face for many of you,” he wrote.

“But I promise you: the last word has not been spoken. Today is not the end of the story.”