Austrian Chancellor Nehammer announced on Saturday that he will step down "in the next few days" after talks to form a coalition government with the two largest centrist parties have collapsed.
He stated on platform X: "I will resign from the positions of Chancellor and leader of the (conservative) People's Party (OVP) and ensure an orderly transition in the coming days."
Last September, the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which holds Eurosceptic and pro-Russian views, won the parliamentary election with 28.8% of the vote. However, Nehammer ruled out the possibility of forming a government with the Freedom Party's leader, Kickl. The Freedom Party is unable to govern alone and currently lacks any other allies to form a coalition government.
For this reason, Austrian President Van der Bellen tasked Nehammer with forming a government.
With Nehammer's upcoming resignation, the most likely two options are to have Kickl form a government or to hold an early election.
Since the last election, public support for the Freedom Party has been increasing. Polls show that the party currently leads the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party (SPO) by more than 10%.
In last September's election, the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party received 26.3% and about 21.1% of the vote, respectively. The liberal small party "New Austria and Liberal Forum" (NEOS), which also participated in the talks, received 9.1% of the vote.