The party leader made a statement to the press after consulting with the President of the Republic, who consults, as usual after the elections, with the leaders of all parties that reached the House of Representatives before making a decision on who he will assign to form the government.
At the same time, the leader of the FPÖ called on other parties to accept him as chancellor and not to form a coalition consisting of “losers” in the elections, with the exception of the FPÖ. As mentioned, he also told Van der Bellen of the latter's warning, adding that it would be a “slap in the face (…) and a fatal signal to voters.” He stated that the voters allowed the Freedom Party to govern, also noting that the wall erected in front of the Freedom Party of Austria would also be a “wall erected in front of democracy” in light of the election results.
The far-right FPÖ party won nearly 29% of the vote in the election, and certainly needs a coalition partner to govern. However, the main parties entering parliament have so far refrained from entering into an alliance with the FPÖ, at least during Keckel's leadership.
Kickel has now confirmed that his party is not shy about cooperating with any other parliamentary force. He added that he wants a coalition that has a stable majority and can agree on the most important current issues.
In the elections, the right-wing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) came in second place with 26.5 percent, and the third largest number of votes (21.1 percent) went to the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).
On behalf of the SPÖ, Federal Director Klaus Seltenheim said on Saturday: Kickl has made it clear that he wants to govern with the ÖVP, so the ÖVP's task is to prevent the FPÖ from entering the government.
Alexander Van der Bellen will continue his consultations with the parties that arrived in Parliament on Monday and Tuesday. According to Kickel, the head of state does not want to make a statement about the negotiations until after the final statement is completed.
