Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen has given incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer a mandate to form Vienna’s next government after all other parties refused to enter into a coalition with the far right.
Nehammer, whose center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) came in second to the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) in September’s parliamentary election, is expected to govern with the Social Democrats (SPÖ), but Van der Bellen emphasized that the two should find a third partner to form a strong majority.
“The election is not a race where the first wins. If a party wants to govern alone, it needs more than 50 percent … Otherwise, it needs to convince possible partners and the president … Partners, who want to work together and trust each other,” Van der Bellen stressed in his announcement on Tuesday.