This follows the failure of negotiations with the Social Democrats to try to form the next government, more than three months after the legislative elections.
Published on 05/01/2025 07:18
Reading time: 2min
Austrian conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced on Saturday January 4 that he will step down as chancellor and president of his party “in the coming days.” This follows the failure of negotiations with the Social Democrats to try to form the next government. “After the breakdown of the coalition negotiations, I (…) will step down as both chancellor and chairman of the People’s Party in the coming days and allow for an orderly transition”he wrote in a message on the social network X, more than three months after the legislative elections of September 29.
This unexpected decision could lead to early elections or force the conservatives to negotiate with the far right, which came first in the legislative elections. It comes the day after the decision of the liberal Neos party to withdraw from tripartite negotiations aimed at forming a centrist government, the aim of which was to remove the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ, far right) from power.
The FPÖ had gathered 28.8% of the votes in the legislative elections, but was unable to find allies to form a government in the Alpine EU member country. The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP, conservatives) came in second place with 26.3% of the vote, followed by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ, center-left) with 21.1%. These results had led Karl Nehammer to initiate discussions with the SPÖ and Neos (9% of the vote) to form a government and block the far right, but the three-party negotiations failed on Friday with the withdrawal of Neos. “I have the deep conviction that radicals do not offer the solution to a single problem, but only live to highlight the problems”declared the Chancellor, claiming to have “always fought for stability”, even if it was not “not sexy in politics”.
