Austrian Foreign Minister demands end of centrist coalition
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Vienna, May 12, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Austria’s centrist coalition moved to the brink of collapse on Friday when conservative Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz called for early elections.
Austria has been in political turmoil since on Wednesday, when Reinhold Mitterlehner announced his resignation as both head of the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) and as vice chancellor, citing constant infighting within his party, and with Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democratic Party (SPOe).
Senior party leaders have asked the 30-year-old Kurz to take over the OeVP.
The succession will likely be decided on Sunday.
“I personally believe that early elections would be the right way to make change possible in Austria,” Kurz told a press conference, in his first public statement since Mitterlehner’s resignation.
Continuing the 10-year political arrangement with the SPOe would only lead to further standstill, he argued.
The two centrist parties agreed on an ambitious reform agenda to boost the economy and to tackle integration in January.
However, they have found it difficult to implement it as each side has accused the other of stalling.
Early elections can only be formally arranged if a majority in parliament agrees.
Kurz brought up the possibility on Friday that Chancellor Kern might try to work on with a minority cabinet.
Current tracking sees the the far-right Freedom Party and the SPOe head-to-head in opinion polls, trailed by the OeVP.
Surveys have shown that Kurz would strongly improve the conservatives’ chances if he were to lead them into new elections. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf