By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) – The head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which won this week’s parliamentary election, urged other parties on Saturday to accept that he should lead the next government and warned them against forming a “coalition of losers”.
The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO) led by Herbert Kickl secured about 29% of the vote in last Sunday’s election, a historic first for a party founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been an SS officer and Nazi lawmaker.
It is still well short of a majority. That means it would need to assemble a coalition to control most seats in parliament and form a stable government. The only party that has left the door open to a coalition, the ruling conservative People’s Party (OVP), has ruled out joining a government with Kickl in it.
“I believe a coalition of losers would be an absolutely fatal signal to voters,” Kickl said in a statement to the media after he met President Alexander Van der Bellen on Friday, adding that it would be a “slap in the face” to the electorate.
He repeated his election night message that his party’s hand is outstretched to the four others in parliament, and that he believes voters gave the FPO a mandate to govern.
The OVP is in a position to be kingmaker since in principle it could either give the FPO a majority as junior partner to it in a ruling coalition or lead a separate, three-way coalition with the Social Democrats (SPO) and a smaller party.
Van der Bellen, a former leader of the Greens who oversees the formation of governments, is holding one-on-one meetings with party leaders in the order they came in the election.
He is due to meet OVP Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the SPO leader Andreas Babler, on Monday, concluding with the leaders of the liberal Neos party and left-wing Greens on Tuesday.
Kickl gave little away about his meeting with Van der Bellen, who has expressed reservations about Kickl and hinted he might not let him enter government.
Kickl said the atmosphere was “pleasant” and the discussion open, and that Van der Bellen had told him he would address the public once his meetings with party leaders were over.
“We as the FPO want to lead the next government, with me as our FPO lead candidate at the helm as chancellor,” Kickl said.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Helen Popper)
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