Austrian Chancellor and leader of the Austrian People’s Party Karl Nehammer on Saturday announced his intention to resign his chancellorship after failing to form a new government. File photo by Max Slovencik/EPA-EFE
Jan. 4 (UPI) — Irreconcilable differences between the Austrian People’s Party and the Social Democratic Party ended Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s efforts to form a new government and his chancellorship.
Nehammer on Saturday announced he will resign as chancellor in a few days after he ended negotiations between the Social Democratic Party, which goes by the acronym SPO, and the Austrian People’s Party, which goes by OVP and is led by him, Euro News reported.
“The people’s party stands by its promises: We will not agree to measures that are anti-performance and anti-business or new taxes,” Nehammer said Saturday in a translated post on X. “We are, therefore, ending negotiations with the SPO and will not continue them.”
The SPO is a center-left political party and the OVP a center-right political party, which makes the two the most centrist political parties in Austria.
Nehammer won’t negotiate with Austria’s conservative Freedom Party, and Austria’s liberal Neos party on Friday announced it won’t lend its support to a three-party coalition to form a new government with the OVP and SPO, The Guardian reported.
The Freedom Party won Austria’s national elections in September, which forced the OVP, SPO and Neos parties to seek a coalition among the three to form a new government.
The latter three political parties had negotiated since November to form a government coalition but did not reach an agreement, Politico reported.
The inability to form a new government has forced Nehammer to resign as chancellor and end his leadership of the People’s Party in the coming days.
Nehammer’s resignation amid the failure to form a new government means a new election is in the works.
The conservative FPO party favors a new election due to its rising popularity in Austria, Euro News reported.
Recent polling shows increased support for the FPO with a 35% favorable rating, but the plurality is not enough to control of Austria’s government.