Austrian far-right leader’s efforts to form a new government collapse
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl said Wednesday that his talks on forming a coalition government with a conservative party have collapsed.
Austria’s president gave Kickl a mandate to try to form a new government on Jan. 6 after efforts to put together a governing alliance with his Freedom Party failed.
But his talks with the conservative Austrian People’s Party appeared increasingly troubled in recent days, with constant talk of policy differences and a clash over who would get which ministries. On Wednesday, Kickl informed President Alexander Van der Bellen that he was giving up the mandate.
Kickl’s anti-immigration and euroskeptic party, which opposes sanctions against Russia, won Austria’s parliamentary election in September. It took 28.8% of the vote and beat then Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s People’s Party into second place.
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