Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday officially tasked far-right Austrian Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl with the largest number of votes in parliamentary elections to form a new governing coalition.
If the coalition succeeds, it will be Austria’s first far-right government since World War II.
Initially, President Van Der Bellen instructed the second-placed conservatives in the parliamentary elections to form a coalition, as most of the forces that entered the parliament were not ready to cooperate with the extreme right. However, in the long and complicated negotiations between the conservatives, social democrats and liberals, they failed to reach an agreement, especially in the economic and tax policy issues, and the coalition against the extreme right was not formed.
Now the extreme right will try to form a coalition, led by Kikl, who advocates a tough immigration policy, opposes sanctions against Russia and the West’s military support to Ukraine.