The Austrian president gave the green light to conservative leader Sebastian Kurtz, leader of the Austrian People's Party, to form the new government. The young leader gave little about the coalition to be formed, leaving the door open to the far-right party.
The Austrian People's Party won 31.5 % of the vote in the last parliamentary election on Oct. 15, narrowly enough to lose the majority needed to control parliament. The 31 years old said after his meeting with the president that he wants to build a government that has a courage and determination to bring a real change in Austria.
The Social Democratic Party won 26.9% of the votes, followed by the far-right Freedom Party with 26%, then the New Liberal Party with 5.3%, and the left-wing Peter Pilz list got 4.4%.
Kurtz announced that he would begin talks on forming a government with all parties, although any of the two parties would provide majority for him. After these preliminary discussions, he will hold formal talks with one of the parties.
With the possibility of far-right access to his government, Kurtz went to Brussels yesterday to reassure EU leaders of his support to erase those fears.
