VIENNA — On Tuesday, Austria’s president assigned current Chancellor Karl Nehammer the responsibility of forming a new government after all other political parties declined to collaborate with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which recently achieved a significant milestone by winning a national election for the first time.

In the September 29 election, the Freedom Party emerged as the leader, garnering 28.8% of the votes, surpassing Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party, which received 26.3%. The center-left Social Democrats followed in third place with 21.1%. The previous governing coalition comprised of Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens lost their parliamentary majority as the results unfolded.

To establish a parliamentary majority, the new government leader will need to forge a coalition. However, Nehammer’s party has expressed its refusal to collaborate with the Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl. Moreover, the other three parties represented in the newly elected parliament declared their unwillingness to engage with the Freedom Party in any capacity. Kickl has stated that the Freedom Party will only consider participating in the government if he is appointed as chancellor.

On October 9, President Alexander Van der Bellen took the unusual step of inviting the leaders of the three largest parties to discussions regarding possible collaboration, setting aside the customary protocol of assigning the election victor the task of government formation.

After the party leaders reported back to the president on Monday, Van der Bellen noted that all parties remained firm in their positions. Consequently, he has tasked Nehammer with the duty of forming a government and initiating discussions with the Social Democrats.

At this time, there has been no immediate public reaction from Chancellor Nehammer or the Freedom Party regarding these developments.