As attempts to establish a coalition government without the far right failed, Austria’s ruling conservatives called a crisis conference on Sunday to choose a replacement for Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who announced his retirement on Saturday.
A number of Austrian media outlets announced that 64-year-old Christian Stocker, the secretary-general of the People’s Party (OVP), would assume temporary leadership of the party more than two hours after the meeting started. The party did not immediately comment.
President Alexander Van der Bellen has limited alternatives after the unexpected breakdown of three-party and then two-party negotiations meant to form a centrist coalition that may act as a safeguard against the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which emerged first in the September legislative election.
With little room for alternatives or time to spare, the most likely outcomes are either a hasty election with support for the euroskeptic, Russia-friendly FPO still growing or a reversal of course in which Van der Bellen assigns FPO head Herbert Kickl the duty of establishing a government.
Markus Wallner, the governor of Vorarlberg, the westernmost of Austria’s nine provinces, told reporters at the chancellor’s office prior to the OVP leadership meeting that the situation is not simple.
We need to do everything we can right now, in my opinion, to prevent a national crisis.
Wallner stated that he was against holding a snap election because it would cause a new administration to take months to form. The leadership includes OVP governors.
While claiming that many aspects of Kickl’s party were reliable, Nehammer stated during and after the election campaign that his party would not govern with Kickl because he was too much of a conspiracy theorist and a security risk.
Given Nehammer’s exit, the person in his place is probably more amenable to forming a coalition with the FPO, which is officially associated with the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
With almost 29% of the vote, the FPO won the election in September. According to polls, its support has only increased since then, increasing its advantage over the Social Democrats and OVP to over 10 percentage points while theirs has decreased.
The FPO has accused the OVP of stealing its ideas because the two parties share similar views on a number of subjects, most notably the OVP’s severe stance on immigration.
The two ruled together from late 2017 until 2019, when their coalition fell apart due to a video-sting controversy involving the FPO’s then-leader. At the state level, they share power in five out of nine states, including Wallner’s Vorarlberg, the moderate OVP.
The national dynamic has changed since, in the event of an alliance, the OVP would be the FPO’s junior partner for the first time, making the role of OVP leader challenging and unpopular with many.
Overnight, Austrian media reported that well-known figures, such as Sebastian Kurz, the former leader of the party and leader of the last coalition with the FPO before being found guilty of perjury, were no longer in the running for the position of OVP leader, despite earlier media reports to the contrary.
Lesser-known individuals like Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, 45, the newly appointed Secretary-General of the Chamber of Commerce, were left.
In the meantime, the FPO emphasized its point.
It stated on X that Austria urgently needs a chancellor.
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