FPÖ on the siding

Not the strongest party in government: never before!

Clear election winner, but still behind Nehammer: Herbert Kickl

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

For the first time in the Second Republic, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen has not entrusted the leading candidate of the party with the most votes with the task of forming a government by appointing ÖVP Chairman Karl Nehammer. After the 1999 election, the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition did not form a coalition and provide the chancellor, but without a mandate from the Federal President.

The winner of the election at the time, despite heavy losses, the SPÖ under Viktor Klima, also had to wait the longest - 67 days - for the - ultimately failed - mandate to form a government from Federal President Thomas Klestil. In view of the tricky situation - the FPÖ under Jörg Haider came second for the first time, the third-ranked ÖVP wanted to go into opposition, the SPÖ with the most votes ruled out a coalition with the Freedom Party - Klestil initially only gave SPÖ leader Viktor Klima an "exploratory mandate" eleven days after the election.

Only after weeks of talks with all parties, in which Klestil had also actively participated, did Klima receive a formal mandate to form a government almost ten weeks after the election.

Black-Blue government sworn in after 124 days
After the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP had failed, Klestil renewed Klima's mandate to form a government, which now also extended to an SPÖ minority government. In the meantime, however, ÖVP leader Wolfgang Schüssel was already negotiating with the Freedom Party without a mandate to form a government.

In the end, Klestil had no choice but to announce the black-blue government 124 days after the election on February 4, 2000.

Ultimately, there was no way around the Schüssel-Haider coalition.

(Bild: APA/Eggenberger Gert)

Van der Bellen argues the current decision with the "completely unusual case" that nobody wants to work together with the FPÖ as the party with the most votes in a government. Furthermore, the National Council election is not a race in which the first to finish automatically forms the government.

"No one can claim the whole nation for themselves alone," the Federal President said, probably in the direction of the Freedom Party under Herbert Kickl, who had laid claim to the chancellorship after winning the election with 28.8 percent of the vote.