Talks between the country's two main centrist parties about forming a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party have fallen apart. Here's how things got to this point, and what could happen next.
Talks between Austria's two main centrist parties on forming a coalition government without the far-right Freedom Party have collapsed, prompting conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer to announce he will step down. A day earlier, a third party, the liberal Neos, walked away from the talks, blaming the other parties for failing to take the bold and decisive action it had called for.
The leadership of Nehammer's People's Party was due to meet on Sunday morning to discuss who should succeed him. Whoever takes over is likely to be more open to a coalition with the FPO, which a large portion of the OVP favours. The two parties governed in coalition under OVP leadership from 2017 until 2019, when the FPO's then-leader was felled by a video-sting scandal, and that coalition collapsed. Support for the FPO has grown since the last election.
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