Austria's president tasks far-right leader with forming new coalition government

NEWS WIRES

6 January 2025 at 8:09 am·1-min read

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, left, welcomes head of the Freedom Party (FPOe) Herbert Kickl at his office, in Vienna, Austria, Monday, January 6, 2025.

Austria’s president on Monday tasked far-right Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl with trying to form a new government after a failed attempt by outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Nehammer announced his resignation on Saturday after coalition talks collapsed.

Austria's far-right Freedom Party received a mandate Monday to form a new government, which if successful would be the first led by the far right since World War II.

The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria’s parliamentary election in September, taking 28.8% of the vote and beating outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party into second place.

But in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form a new government after Nehammer’s party said it wouldn’t go into government with the Freedom Party under Kickl and others refused to work with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to form a governing alliance without the far right collapsed in the first few days of the new year and Nehammer said Saturday that he would resign.

The People’s Party then signaled that it might be open to working under Kickl. Van der Bellen said after meeting Kickl for about an hour at the presidential palace Monday that he had tasked the Freedom Party leader with holding talks with the People’s Party to form a new government.

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