Austria's chancellor asked to form new government after parties refuse to work with far-right leader

VIENNA (AP) — Austria's president on Tuesday tasked incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer with forming a new government after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which last month won a national election for the first time.

Traditionally, the head of state has asked the leader of the strongest party to form a government. But President Alexander Van der Bellen dispensed with that tradition this time after the Sept. 29 parliamentary election produced a stalemate.

Whoever leads the next government will need to build a coalition to have a parliamentary majority. But Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People's Party has said it wouldn’t work with the Freedom Party under its leader, Herbert Kickl. The other three parties in the new parliament said they wouldn’t work with the Freedom Party at all. And Kickl said the Freedom Party would only go into government with him as chancellor.

The Freedom Party finished first in the election with 28.8% of the vote, ahead of Nehammer’s party, which took 26.3%. The center-left Social Democrats were third with 21.1%. The outgoing governing coalition of Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens lost its majority.

Van der Bellen on Oct. 9 asked the leaders of the three strongest parties to hold talks on possible cooperation. They reported back on Monday, and the president said all had stuck to their positions.

“This means clearly and unambiguously — confirmed repeatedly, with a reflection period and with extra talks — that Herbert Kickl won't find any coalition partner who will make him chancellor,” he said.

As a result, he said he was asking Nehammer to form a government and start talks with the Social Democrats. Those two parties, which governed together repeatedly in the past, have the barest possible majority in the new parliament, with a combined 92 of the 183 seats.

That's widely considered too small a cushion. Van der Bellen, who will have to swear in a new administration, said that he wanted clarity on whether it would be enough for a “stable government” or whether a third partner would be needed.

The liberal Neos party, which took 9.1% of the vote last month, is the likeliest option.

The Freedom Party tapped into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Russia’s war in Ukraine and other issues to secure its best-ever result. It has served before as the junior partner in governments led by the People’s Party, but the conservatives have argued that it's not possible to work with Kickl, a 55-year-old with a taste for provocation who has been the Freedom Party leader since 2021.

There is no formal deadline for forming a new government.

“I will work hard for Austria to get a stable government supported by a broad majority in parliament,” Nehammer said. He added that it would have to be a three-party coalition in the interests of stability and named the economy, immigration and integration among his top priorities. “Our country needs change and reforms.”

“I can't tell you today whether these talks and negotiations will actually lead to the formation of a government,” the 52-year-old Nehammer, Austria’s leader since late 2021, said in a brief statement to reporters.

Kickl wrote on Instagram that the president's decision “may feel like a slap in the face for many of you. But I promise you: the last word has not yet been spoken.”

“We will see what coalition will stand at the end of this process," he added. "If it goes according to the will of the voters, it can only be a government led by the Freedom Party.”

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Moulson reported from Berlin.