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By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) -Austria's president said on Wednesday he could not task the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) with forming a government after it won a general election because no party wants to govern with it, so instead it and the next two largest parties should try to break the "stalemate" themselves.
The FPO won the parliamentary election 10 days ago, a historic first for a party founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been an SS officer and Nazi lawmaker. Having secured about 29% of the vote, it would need a coalition partner to command a majority in parliament and form a government.
Only Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative People's Party (OVP) has left the door open to a coalition with the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO but not if its leader Herbert Kickl is part of the next government. Kickl insists he should become chancellor and any coalition without the FPO in it would be a "coalition of losers" and a "slap in the face" to voters.
"It is an absolutely new situation for there to be an election winner with whom evidently no other party wants to govern," President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, said in a televised address after one-on-one talks with the leaders of all five parliamentary parties.
"My discussions (with party leaders) yesterday and the day before have strengthened that impression further ... A classic stalemate," he said, adding that Kickl had told him there would be no FPO-led government without him as chancellor.
Since no coalition could have a majority without two of the three top parties in it, Van der Bellen said he would ask the leaders of those parties - the FPO, OVP and third-placed Social Democrats (SPO) - to hold talks and report back to him at the end of next week.
"Do all those involved really mean what they have said? I know that is to be expected, of course, but I want clarity. Clarity for Austria," said Van der Bellen, who has expressed reservations about the FPO and hinted that he would not let Kickl become chancellor.
Potentially complicating the picture further, prominent publicist Rudolf Fussi said on Wednesday he was launching a campaign to topple SPO chief Andreas Babler.
To trigger a leadership vote, party rules require collecting the signatures of 10% of SPO members within a quarter. He said he hoped to have the roughly 14,000 signatures by year-end.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Mark Potter)
