Austrian chancellor, president to discuss election after far-right video scandal

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Austrian chancellor, president to discuss election after far-right video scandal

 

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz addresses the media in Vienna, Austria, May 18, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

 

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's chancellor and president will discuss a date on Sunday for an early parliamentary election and the makeup of a caretaker government, after a video sting brought down the leader of the far-right junior partners in the ruling coalition.

 

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition and called for a snap election after his deputy, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, quit over a video showing him discussing fixing state contracts in return for favours.

 

Heinz-Christian Strache, who was filmed speaking to a woman who posed as the niece of a Russian oligarch, accepted that the video was "catastrophic" but denied having broken the law and said no money changed hands.

 

The scandal is a blow for one of Europe's most successful nationalist parties just a week before an election to the European parliament in which far-right groups anticipate record success across the continent.

 

Kurz, a conservative who has ruled with far-right junior partners for a year and a half, said the video was the last straw after a number of lesser scandals, and it was time for a new vote rather than an attempt to keep the coalition in office.

 

"Enough is enough," Kurz said in a statement to the media on Saturday. President Alexander Van der Bellen, who has the authority to dismiss the government, also said he favoured a snap election and would discuss details on Sunday.

 

Austria could set an election date as soon as the summer, according to national law, "but that could be difficult due to school holidays," said Robert Stein, who heads the election desk at the interior ministry.

 

"The first possible Sunday after the school holidays would be September 15," he said.

 

The makeup of any caretaker government until the snap election was also up for discussion.

 

Strache said on Saturday that Transport Minister Norbert Hofer, a former presidential candidate, would replace him as party leader. Kurz has not yet said whether he would accept Hofer as his deputy in government.

 

The Freedom Party's leadership will meet on Saturday afternoon to discuss next steps and nominate Hofer as party chief, news wire APA said.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Peter Graff)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-20

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[ALFREDO]

Ha ha the Russians again - so our small Austrian -Russiangate- story

- Russians interfere - in politics and elections. 

A  bit smaller then the big waves in USA but, bring a Government from our small country down. 

[stevenl]

33 minutes ago, ALFREDO said:

Ha ha the Russians again - so our small Austrian -Russiangate- story

- Russians interfere - in politics and elections. 

A  bit smaller then the big waves in USA but, bring a Government from our small country down. 

There were no Russians involved.

[usviphotography]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

There were no Russians involved.

Yeah, it looks like it was Austrian Intelligence (which is dominated by ÖVP) that ran a sting operation against FPÖ by getting their leader drunk and then filming him saying something stupid to some honeypot agent he was trying to sex. In other words, exact same politicization of domestic security forces to interfere in the Democratic Process that we saw in America last time. Dangerous trend, and doesn't really seem worth it. Yeah, ÖVP may gain a few seats at FPÖ's expense, but I don't see Kurz peeling off enough support that he'll be able to rule alone. He's going to have to form the same coalition and with FPÖ justifiably pissed off, they may have harsher demands for that cooperation than they did the first time around. 

 

Given that, I think it was more likely this was a concoction of the Deep State elements of ÖVP operating on their own rather than something orchestrated from above by Kurz. Which is probably how it happened in America too. I doubt Clapper or Brennan ran anything they were doing by Obama before hatching their scheme either. 

[simple1]

6 hours ago, usviphotography said:

Yeah, it looks like it was Austrian Intelligence (which is dominated by ÖVP) that ran a sting operation against FPÖ by getting their leader drunk and then filming him saying something stupid to some honeypot agent he was trying to sex. In other words, exact same politicization of domestic security forces to interfere in the Democratic Process that we saw in America last time. Dangerous trend, and doesn't really seem worth it. Yeah, ÖVP may gain a few seats at FPÖ's expense, but I don't see Kurz peeling off enough support that he'll be able to rule alone. He's going to have to form the same coalition and with FPÖ justifiably pissed off, they may have harsher demands for that cooperation than they did the first time around. 

 

Given that, I think it was more likely this was a concoction of the Deep State elements of ÖVP operating on their own rather than something orchestrated from above by Kurz. Which is probably how it happened in America too. I doubt Clapper or Brennan ran anything they were doing by Obama before hatching their scheme either. 

What has been proven is the two far right guys were national security risks with behaviour in complete contradiction to their self proclaimed worthiness to lead. These guys have resigned - good riddance - hope the other EU far right parties suffer the same fate.

[stevenl]

7 hours ago, usviphotography said:

Yeah, it looks like it was Austrian Intelligence (which is dominated by ÖVP) that ran a sting operation against FPÖ by getting their leader drunk and then filming him saying something stupid to some honeypot agent he was trying to sex. In other words, exact same politicization of domestic security forces to interfere in the Democratic Process that we saw in America last time. Dangerous trend, and doesn't really seem worth it. Yeah, ÖVP may gain a few seats at FPÖ's expense, but I don't see Kurz peeling off enough support that he'll be able to rule alone. He's going to have to form the same coalition and with FPÖ justifiably pissed off, they may have harsher demands for that cooperation than they did the first time around. 

 

Given that, I think it was more likely this was a concoction of the Deep State elements of ÖVP operating on their own rather than something orchestrated from above by Kurz. Which is probably how it happened in America too. I doubt Clapper or Brennan ran anything they were doing by Obama before hatching their scheme either. 

Aw please, not that deep state again. And you really think you have to bring Obama in this? Please, get a grip and look at what is happening.

 

The guy was whoring his party out: help me get elected and I will help you with business deals.

[ALFREDO]

On 5/20/2019 at 9:07 PM, stevenl said:

There were no Russians involved.

So the Sexy Lady was not Russian? What country was she from then?  ????