Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday mandated the leader of the Freedom Party (FPO), Herbert Kickl, to try to form a new government, after efforts to form a government without the FPO failed last week.

If Kickl succeeds in forming the government, then Austria will be led by a far-right government for the first time since World War II.

The Freedom Party – an anti-immigration and Eurosceptic party that opposes sanctions on Russia – won parliamentary elections in Austria in September.

It received 28.8 percent of the vote, leaving the conservative party of the outgoing chancellor, Karl Nehammer, the People's Party, in second place.

But in October, President Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form the new government, as Nehammer's party had said it would not enter into a governing coalition with the Freedom Party as long as Kickl is its leader, while the parties of others refused to cooperate with the Freedom Party at all.

Efforts to form a coalition government without the far-right party failed in the early days of the new year, and Nehammer announced on Saturday that he would resign.

The People's Party then hinted that it might be open to working with Kicklin.

Van der Bellen, after an hour-long meeting with Kicklin at the presidential palace on Monday, announced that he had given the leader of the Freedom Party the task of holding talks with the People's Party to form a new government.

"I did not take the decision lightly," said the president. "I will continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our Constitution are respected and properly implemented."

The far right and conservatives have governed together before, but in previous cases the Freedom Party was the junior partner in the coalition. Most recently, they ruled Austria from 2017 to 2019, in a government where Kickl served as interior minister. That government fell after a scandal involving the then leader of the Freedom Party.

It is not certain that coalition talks between the far right and the conservatives will be fruitful, but for now there are no other real options in Parliament, and polls show that new elections could further strengthen the Freedom Party.

In its election program entitled "Fortress Austria," the Freedom Party calls for the "repatriation of uninvited foreigners," for the creation of a "more homogeneous" nation by strictly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum through a law emergency.

The Freedom Party also wants to lift sanctions on Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants out of the German-led European Sky Shield missile defense initiative.

Kickl criticized the "elites" in Brussels and called for Austria to return some powers from the European Union./REL