The leader of Austria's far-right FPÖ party has been given the task of forming a government after meeting the President on Monday morning.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen invited FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl to form a government during an hour-long meeting on Monday morning. He said he did not take the decision lightly but that "respect for the vote of the voters requires that the Federal President honours the majority."
The meeting between Van der Bellen and Kickl was accompanied by protests. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the presidential chancellery and warned of a huge shift to the right.
The FPÖ won the elections at the end of September with almost 29% of the vote, but no other party wanted to join forces with Kickl, a contentious figure who used pro-Nazi rhetoric in the run-up to elections.
However, the coalition talks between the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the Social Democrats of SPÖ and the liberal party Neos have fallen through. The conservatives have since announced on Sunday that they are prepared to enter into coalition talks with the FPÖ after all.
"The voices within the People’s party who exclude working with the Freedom party under its leader Herbert Kickl have become quieter," Van der Bellen said on Sunday.
The ÖVP and FPÖ had already formed a coalition in the 2000s and between 2017 and 2019, under a government leader from the ÖVP. The far-right party are now poised to enter the Chancellor's office for the first time, but both parties must first agree on a political programme.
They are already on the same page on migration and taxes, but not on foreign and security policy. The FPÖ is considered eurosceptic and pro-Kremlin.
This article was updated at 14:40.
