Coalition crisis in Austria: Who gets power after the election?

Coalition crisis in Austria: Who gets power after the election?

Wien, Österreich - In Austria, the political landscape could soon be turned upside down again. In view of the upcoming National Council elections, there are numerous coalition variants in the room that could certainly cause excitement. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen indicated that an expert government or new elections have to be considered, while the SPÖ and ÖVP could possibly try to govern together again. However, it remains unclear whether an alliance with a smaller party can come about after the coalition talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS have already failed, such as vienna.at reported.

The FPÖ has positioned itself as the new strongest party in Austria, led by Herbert Kickl, who has chancellor ambitions. Nevertheless, all other parties seem to reject cooperation with him. This aversion could complicate the negotiations between the parties considerably. The Federal Government and Opposition are faced with the dilemma that a stable coalition is necessary to implement essential reforms. The last option would be a triple coalition, as it took place in 1945. Politicians are difficult by the hard positions of those involved; SPÖ boss Andreas Babler categorically excluded collaboration with the FPÖ and sees the possibility of a coalition only in cooperation with the ÖVP or the NEOS, which further complicates the situation, as profile.at notes.

The traditional major parties ÖVP and SPÖ, which have grown together, seem to be forced to consider cooperation despite their decades of rivalry in order to protect their political relevance and to counteract a possible superiority of the FPÖ. However, the hurdles are high: Both parties have deep distrust for each other and face the challenge of forming a government that meets all of its voters. A mood of uncompromising makes the political situation tricky and could mean that the ballot box comes into play as the last solution.