Austrian Chancellor resigns following his party's debacle in presidential election

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann on Monday surprisingly stepped down from his role as chancellor as well as chairman of his Social Democrats (SPO) party due to the lack of enough support within SPO.

Faymann said in a short statement following a meeting with SPO leaders in Vienna that Austria needs a new chancellor with the full backing of their party, and the government needs to make a new start with strength.

"I had the majority of the SPO behind me. But there are situations in life when the majority is not enough, because you need the support of the whole party", Faymann said.

Recent reports showed that his popularity and support within the party has been on the decline. Since the debacle in the presidential election two weeks ago - SPO candidate Rudolf Hundstorfer reached only 11 percent - the critical statements within the SPO against Faymann increased. On May 1, the Chancellor was even greeted with boos in a traditional parade of the SPO.

Some federal organizations, especially the SPO chairmen of Vorarlberg and Salzburg, also publicly called for personnel consequences.

Last week unionists had also given differing opinions about the future of the SPO and its current party line, including some who were against Faymann staying on as leader.

Local media have reported a split in the party into two factions, those in favour of cooperation with the increasingly-popular far-right Freedom Party, and those who remain against it.

However, in recent days, the critics of Faymann held back, and everything seemed to come down to a compromise in which the chancellor remains in office at least until the party congress in November.

The rapid withdrawal of Faymann surprised not only the public but also the majority of the SPO.

The powerful Vienna Mayor Michael Haeupl temporarily takes the chairmanship of the SPO, until a successor is selected. This will be done early next week.

Some SPO politicians favor Christian Kern as the future party leader and chancellor. Kern is head of the Austrian Federal Railways OBB. However, according to reports, the Viennese SPO favors the media manager and former head of the state broadcasting corporation ORF Gerhard Zeiler.

Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner from the coalition partner OVP will take over the governance until the SPO chooses a new chancellor. Mitterlehner argued against a new election of the parliament in a first reaction. His party also suffered a crushing defeat in the first round of the presidential election. Both government parties have nothing to gain from a re-election of the Parliament.

However, the government crisis has little influence for the runoff election for president on May 22. With Norbert Hofer (FPO) and the former leader of the Green Party Alexander van der Bellen, two candidates of the opposition, run for the presidential office.

The resignation of Faymann could have little effect on Hofer's election. He scored in the pre-election with attacks against the chancellor.

However, further government reshuffles on the part of the SPO are not excluded. Also a substantive modification of the party will probably be discussed in the coming days. Lately the voices accumulated within the party calling for an opening in the direction of the emerging right-wing party FPO.

Whoever will be the new chancellor: He will have many open construction fields, not only in the government but also within the SPO.

Source: XINHUA