By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Tuesday tasked Chancellor Karl Nehammer, leader of the conservative People's Party, with forming a government over the objections of the far-right Freedom Party, which won last month's general election.
The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO) came out top in the election on Sept. 29 for the first time in its history. But with around 29% of the vote it would need to assemble a coalition to command a majority in parliament and form a government.
FPO leader Herbert Kickl has said he would be chancellor in an FPO-led government but other parties have ruled out governing with him. Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, said those parties had stood by their positions on that.
"The parliamentary election on Sept. 29 is not a race in which the party that crosses the finish line first automatically gets to form the government," the 80-year-old president said in a televised address.
"If a party wants to govern alone, it must clear the 50% hurdle. It is not sufficient to reach 10, 20 or 30%."
Van der Bellen, a former leader of the left-wing Greens who has expressed reservations about Kickl entering government on his watch, has argued he does not need to follow the convention of asking the winner to form a ruling coalition because it is unprecedented that no party wants to govern with it.
After ordering party leaders to meet and report back to him, Van der Bellen tasked Nehammer with holding coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPO).
Kickl has said it would be undemocratic for his party not to govern and warned against forming a "coalition of losers" excluding it.
"This may feel like a slap in the face to many of you," Kickl told supporters on Facebook (NASDAQ:META).
"But I promise you: the final word has not yet been spoken," he said, adding that he would await the outcome of coalition talks and his party's hands remained outstretched to others.
In a speech, Nehammer immediately answered a question posed by Van der Bellen as to whether a coalition comprising the second-placed OVP and third-placed SPO could work with a majority of just one seat.
"In order to ensure a stable parliamentary majority, a third partner will be needed," he said, adding that there would be "no more business as usual" and he would seek reforms.
With only two other parties in parliament, that strongly suggested he intends to turn to the liberal Neos rather than his current coalition partner, the Greens.
Austria has not been governed by a three-party coalition since independence in 1955. The OVP and SPO will need to bridge large ideological divides, including on the SPO's flagship policy of introducing wealth and inheritance taxes.
"I cannot say today whether these negotiations will lead to the formation of a government. What I can promise you, however, is that I will act in the interest of stability and reliability and with a sense of responsibility for our country," Nehammer said.