Austria's president takes charge as far right isolated after election victory

The far-right Freedom Party's historic victory in an Austrian parliamentary election has left it isolated and partly at the mercy of a powerful critic: the president, who must oversee efforts towards forming a viable coalition government.

The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO) won for the first time, but its 29% vote share fell well short of a parliamentary majority. It needs a coalition partner to govern, and other parties' leaders say they are not interested.

President Alexander Van der Bellen, 80, a former leader of the left-wing Greens, voiced reservations about the FPO last year due to its failure to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the party's opposition to sanctions against Moscow.

He also hinted he might not allow the FPO's 55-year-old leader Herbert Kickl to become chancellor. Kickl has urged Van der Bellen to follow established practice and ask the first-placed party to try to form a government. Van der Bellen says he has no such obligation, and constitutional experts agree.

In an address on Sunday evening in which he asked parties to sound each other out, Van der Bellen said "the pillars of our liberal democracy" should be respected, citing the rule of law, rights of minorities, independent media and EU membership.

Those are points that Kickl's opponents say he and the FPO have been working to undermine. Kickl says his party is the sole true defender of Austrian sovereignty and neutrality.

SIGNAL

"Of course that was a signal, but it could have two different meanings," Kathrin Stainer-Haemmerle, political science professor at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, said of Van der Bellen's remarks.

"On the one hand, that the Freedom Party must not be allowed to govern. I don't think he wanted to go quite that far....But of course it could also mean, 'There are some things that I want to be included in the (future) government programme'."

Van der Bellen's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on his remarks, which also suggested that the process of forming a coalition could take even longer than the two or three months Austrians are used to.

Hours after the 2019 election which the ruling conservatives won by a significantly larger margin, Van der Bellen said he would "naturally" ask the first-placed party to try and build a coalition. He did so eight days later.

This time, he gave no such guidance, and said that a party with no majority "must convince others - other potential government partners, as well as the president", if it wants to form a government, highlighting his central role.

On Sunday, Kickl said that Van der Bellen had to take into account that the FPO came first.

"This constitution isn't something based on the principle of arbitrariness, but on the balance of power," he said.

If Kickl cannot find a partner to work with, it could open the door to a coalition of more moderate parties.

Founded in the 1950s under the helm of an ex-Nazi lawmaker, the FPO has worked to moderate its image. As with the rising far right in some other EU countries, voters were drawn by FPO vows to restrict immigration and tackle cost-of-living crises.