Following the general elections won by the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), President Van der Bellen did not assign the task of forming a government to any political party leader. Parties had already announced they would not form a coalition with the FPÖ after the election results. The FPÖ became the first far-right party to win an election in Austria since World War II.

In Austria, a new government could not be formed after the far-right’s victory in the elections.

President Alexander Van der Bellen did not assign the task of forming a government to any political party leader following the general elections held on September 29, in which the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) won with nearly 29% of the vote. Van der Bellen held meetings with the leaders of the five parties that entered parliament after the elections, making statements to the press about the new coalition government that will be formed and which party will be selected for this task. Van der Bellen noted that up until now, it has been customary for the leader of the party that received the most votes in the election to be tasked with forming a government, but this time, an unprecedented situation arose. “This is a completely new situation encountered for the first time. No party wants to form a government with the election winner,” he said.

“A CLASSIC DEADLOCK”

The President reminded that all parties openly stated that they did not want to form a coalition with the FPÖ or, like the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), they would not form a coalition government with FPÖ’s far-right leader Herbert Kickl.

Van der Bellen expressed that this approach was observed much more closely when he met with party leaders. In his meeting with Kickl, the far-right leader conveyed that his party would not approach a coalition in which he would not be the prime minister, indicating that the situation was a “classic deadlock.”

GAVE ONE WEEK’S TIME

Van der Bellen pointed out the need for a more precise approach and respect for all voters to find a solution to this deadlock. He said, “I ask the leaders of the top three parties, Herbert Kickl (FPÖ), Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), and Andreas Babler (SPÖ), to engage in discussions at the party leader level. They should clearly explain in principle which mutual cooperation is possible.”

The President gave party leaders until the end of next weekend for these discussions. Emphasizing that such a path is inevitable to get out of this deadlock, Van der Bellen added that engaging in a process that would not yield results from the beginning and initiating a discussion process that would not lead to forming a coalition would not benefit the country at all.