Prime Minister Karl Nehammer announced on Saturday that talks between Austria's two main centrist parties to form a coalition government without the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) had broken down, adding that he would resign in the coming days.
The announcement comes a day after a small, liberal third party, Neos, announced it was withdrawing from negotiations, disrupting the negotiation process and accusing other parties of failing to take the bold and decisive action it said it had called for. It was held on.
After coalition talks with the Social Democratic Party (SPO) continued with no withdrawal, Nehammer said, “I will resign as prime minister and leader of the (conservative) People's Party within the next few days to allow for an orderly transition of power.'' “I will,” he said in a video statement regarding X. Neos on Saturday.
The Eurosceptic and pro-Russia FPO won the last parliamentary election in September with 29% of the vote. A coalition partner was needed to govern, but there were no immediate candidates as Nehammer ruled out governing with FPO leader Herbert Kickle.
As a result, Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen, a former leader of the Green Party, ordered Nehammer to form a government. Now that Nehammer has resigned, the most likely options are for Kickle to form a government or for a snap election to be held.
Since the last election, support for the FPO has only increased. According to opinion polls, it maintains a lead of more than 10 points over the People's Party (OVP) and SPO.
SPO leader Andreas Babler confirmed at a press conference that negotiations had broken down.
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“We now know what could happen. An FPO-OVP government with a right-wing extremist prime minister will endanger our democracy in many ways,” Babler said.
