Austrian People’s Party Names Christian Stocker as Interim Leader After Nehammer Resigns

New Delhi, India: The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) has nominated its General Secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader following Chancellor Karl Nehammer's announcement of his resignation. 

Nehammer, who announced on Saturday that he would step down in the coming days, made the decision amid a political impasse. His resignation follows the failure to form a coalition government.

Walking across Vienna’s Ballhausplatz from the Chancellery to the president’s office under police protection, Nehammer emphasized the need for political stability. “What is important for me is that the way of stability and the center can be continued,” he stated.  

Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen will make a public statement to announce the next steps once the meeting with Nehammer is over.

The 52-year-old Nehammer became chancellor and conservative party leader in 2021, after his predecessor Sebastian Kurz was forced to stand down following allegations of corruption.

In April 2022, Nehammer became the first European leader to visit Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Before going to Moscow, he also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Austria was thrown into political turmoil on Friday after the liberal party NEOS pulled out of coalition talks with the centre-left Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party. On Saturday the two remaining parties, who have a razor-thin majority in Parliament, made another attempt to negotiate and form a government – but this effort also ended in failure after a few hours, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on how to repair the budget deficit. 

With inputs from AP