Austria’s chancellor to quit as coalition talks collapse

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will step down in the coming days, as chancellor and party leader, after talks to form a coalition government are over.

The chancellor said his party – the Conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) – and the Social Democrats failed to agree on key issues.

The liberal Neos, another group participating in the talks, also came out on Friday.

In September, the center-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) won an unprecedented victory in an Austrian electionbut other parties have refused to form a coalition with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.

The end of the talks could lead to a debate with those on the right, or a new election, experts say.

The Russian-backed FPÖ has previously been in the governing coalition. Perhaps he would receive a new election if The polls show his popularity has increased significantly since September.

The FPÖ he said in his statement on X that three months have been lost with the negotiations of the agreement adding that “instead of stability, we have chaos”.

The party has asked the leader of the Social Democrat Andreas Babler to also resign and said that the Prime Minister Alexander Van der Bellen has “a big part of the confusion that has happened and the time lost”.

The FPÖ won about 29% of the vote in the September election, the People’s Party came second with 26.3% and the Social Democrats third, with 21%.

There was a high turnout of 77.3% when Austrian voters took part in the election which had the twin issues of immigration and security, as well as the economy and the war in Ukraine.

Kickl of the FPÖ promised to build “Fortress Austria”, to restore the security and prosperity of the Austrians.

The party wants stricter immigration laws and has promoted immigration, which includes sending refugees back to their countries of origin.

The FPÖ was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s.

Two days before last year’s general election some of their representatives were videotaped at a funeral where the SS anthem was played.

The party later rejected the song, which began in 1814, as having links to “National Socialist sentiments”.