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May 28, 2019

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his conservative minority government were disheartened in Parliament by the joint vote of the opposition. It is the first time in the post-war period that a vote of no confidence against a head of government gets a winning result in Austria.

To vote against Kurz were the Social Democrats (Spoe) and the right of the Freedom Party (Fpoe) who accused the chancellor of exploiting the corruption charges against former deputy chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache for holding early elections and excluding from the I govern the ministers of the Fpoe, to take absolute control of the executive.

The distrust comes 10 days after the scandal dubbed 'Ibizagate', which overwhelmed the former FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who resigned as vice-chancellor decreeing the end of the ruling coalition with Kurz's conservative party .

This is an unprecedented vote in Austria. The result of the vote was announced by the deputy chairman of the Parliament Doris Bures, who did not however provide a count of the preferences expressed. The Kurz People's Party won the Europeans, despite the political earthquake.

Loeger interim chancellor
After the distrust, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen decided to give the post of interim chancellor to the Kurz government's finance minister, Hartwig Löger (Oevp). In recent days, after the resignation of Heinz Christian Strache, Loeger had already assumed the role of deputy chancellor. Van der Bellen has announced that he will notify the Kurz government's forfeiture, which however will remain temporarily in office.

Van der Bellen reiterated the need to scrupulously observe the procedure set by the constitution. "The State - he said - must work and all ministries must be operational at any time". The members of the technical government - he added - will be identified with "timeliness, but also diligence". Finally, the president stressed that the new executive must enjoy "broad support" in parliament and appealed to the parties for responsibility.