VIENNA: Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz on Friday called for a snap parliamentary election but stopped short of laying claim to his squabbling conservative party’s leadership and bringing down the coalition government.
Kurz, 30, enjoys wide support within the People’s Party (OVP) as its best hope of rebounding from poor ratings to challenge the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which is running first in opinion polls, closely followed by Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats.
Surveys have suggested that if Kurz took over, the OVP would leapfrog into first place. One of his hallmarks has been a hard line on immigration, to the point that the FPO has accused him of stealing its ideas.
“I personally believe early elections would be the right path,” Kurz told a news conference, denouncing a “permanent election campaign” by members of the often bickering centrist coalition government, whose term runs until autumn 2018.
Kern, who took over as chancellor a year ago, struck a deal with the OVP in January on a new policy package heavy on law-and-order measures aimed at undercutting support for the anti-immigration FPO.
But public spats within the coalition have continued, and indiscipline among OVP ministers was a big factor behind Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that he was stepping down from all his posts, including as leader of the OVP.
Kern extended an offer to Kurz and the OVP to continue the alliance, which has dominated post-war politics, until the end of their term rather than hold a snap election while the Freedom Party leads opinion polls, but Kurz dismissed that offer.
“I think that days or weeks later we would be exactly where we have always been. Minimal compromises that do not really change the country would be agreed on,” said Kurz, who polls often show is the most popular politician in Austria.
The government’s perceived ineffectiveness has fuelled support for the FPO, which has repeatedly called for a snap election. If Kurz’s conservatives sought the required majority in parliament to go to the polls, it and the FPO would be just three votes short in terms of seats they control. It is unclear whether such a move would backfire in a country still reeling from last year’s repeatedly delayed presidential election, which an FPO candidate nearly won. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
