Austrian President urges leading parties to break coalition 'stalemate'

Vienna, Oct 10 (IANS) Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen urged leading parties to break a coalition "stalemate" due to the election victory of the Freedom Party instead of tasking the far-right party with forming a government.

The Freedom Party won its first-ever election of the National Council, Austria's lower house of parliament, on September 29 by securing 28.8 per cent of the vote, reports Xinhua news agency.

As it fell far short of an absolute majority, the Freedom Party needed to find a coalition partner to govern, but all other parties have so far ruled out the possibility of a coalition with it under its leader, Herbert Kickl.

The conservative People's Party, which led the outgoing government, won 26.3 per cent of the vote. The Social Democratic Party came third with 21.1 percent.

Following days of talks with the leaders of all parliamentary parties, Van der Bellen on Wednesday said in a national address on Wednesday that he would break with the tradition of entrusting the party that wins the general election to form a new government.

"This time, an unusual case has occurred. It is completely new that there is a winner with whom none of the other parties want to govern," Van der Bellen said.

It is not mandatory under the constitution for Austria's president to task the general election winner to form a government, according to Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Van der Bellen called on leaders of the Freedom Party, the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party to hold talks to overcome the stalemate. He will invite the party leaders to report back to him by the end of next week.

Leaders of the three parties said later on Wednesday that they would comply with the president's mandate and hold talks with the other parties.

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