Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen officially tasked on Monday the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), whose head is Herbert Kickl (pictured), with forming a government.
"Kickl has the confidence to find viable solutions within the framework of government negotiations and he wants to fulfill this responsibility," Van der Bellen said. If successful, it would mark Austria's first far-right-led government since World War II.
The party led by Kickl won September's parliamentary elections with 28.8% of the vote, outpacing outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative Austrian People's Party, which finished in second place. Initially, Van der Bellen had entrusted Nehammer with forming a new government in October. However, his party declined to form a coalition with Kickl's FPO, and other parties also refused to collaborate with the far-right faction, prompting Nehammer's resignation.
