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Austrian Chancellor Resigns Amid Rise in Right-Wing Populism
Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, Resigns as Right Wing Rises
(about 4 hours later)
VIENNA — Austria’s chancellor resigned abruptly on Monday after nearly eight years in office, throwing his country into deeper political uncertainty after a first round of presidential elections last month in which the two governing establishment parties failed to muster even a quarter of the popular vote.
VIENNA — Austria’s chancellor resigned abruptly on Monday after seven and a half years in office, having lost control of his center-left Social Democratic Party amid a rightward shift fueled by anxiety over migration.
The resignation occurred amid a rightward shift in Austrian politics, fueled by anxiety over the migration crisis.
The chancellor, Werner Faymann, initially supported the decision last year by Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, to welcome migrants fleeing war and poverty and to refuse to set a limit on how many might come. But after a ferocious backlash, Mr. Faymann switched course, joining his coalition partner, the center-right Austrian People’s Party, in supporting border restrictions.
“I am grateful that I was allowed to serve the country,” Werner Faymann, the chancellor since 2008, said at a news conference in Vienna, announcing that he was stepping down as both chancellor and as the leader of his party, the center-left Social Democrats.
The policy reversal was not enough to stop the right-wing Freedom Party, which has run on a strident “Austrians First” platform, from capitalizing on the influx of migrants. In September, the party finished second in regional elections in northern Austria.
Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner, who is from the other establishment party, the conservative Austrian People’s Party, will serve as interim chancellor, said Astrid Salmhofer, a spokeswoman for President Heinz Fischer. Mr. Fischer was expected to formally invest Mr. Mitterlehner with those duties in a meeting late Monday afternoon, she said.
An even greater shock to the establishment occurred on April 24, when the Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, won the first round of the presidential election, capturing more than a third of the vote. He will face a former Greens leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, in a May 22 runoff.
Under Austria’s Constitution, Mr. Mitterlehner could remain in office days, weeks or even months, she said. Parliamentary elections are not expected until 2018, though an early election could be called.
The two establishment parties — which have governed for the past decade in a so-called grand coalition, a political constellation that has dominated postwar Austria — together received just 22 percent of the first-round vote. No matter who wins the second round, the next president will not be from either mainstream party, for the first time in decades.
Michael Häupl, the veteran mayor of Vienna, who won a tight race last year with a pro-immigrant stance, will take over as the temporary leader of the Social Democrats.
Although the position of president has been considered largely ceremonial, the two parties were thrown into a state of panic.
Two weeks ago, a far-right candidate, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, decisively won the first round of the country’s presidential elections. While the presidency is largely ceremonial, the vote was a heavy blow to Mr. Faymann. He quickly lost support within his party, which has governed for the past decade in a so-called grand coalition with the People’s Party, a political constellation that has dominated post-World War II Austria.
Left-leaning Social Democrats, angered by Mr. Faymann’s reversal on migration policy, rebelled. Things peaked at Vienna’s May Day celebrations — typically a day of strength for the party, which has governed in the Austrian capital since the end of World War II. Mr. Faymann was booed and heckled as party members held high signs demanding his resignation.
Although Mr. Faymann was in trouble, the timing of his announcement came as a surprise to many Austrians.
That set in motion a flurry of back-room meetings aimed — until now — at rescuing Mr. Faymann at least through the runoff, and possibly the summer. Those talks failed over the weekend, and Mr. Faymann, 56, bowed on Monday to political reality, saying he would step down as chancellor and as the party’s leader.
“I am grateful that I was allowed to serve the country,” Mr. Faymann said at a news conference in Vienna.
Mr. Faymann said he was proud of his time in office, having guided Austria’s recovery from the financial crisis while investing in education and research.
“We need to fight unemployment, guarantee social cohesion and, in the refugee crisis, ensure order and humanity,” Mr. Faymann said. “The question was thus: Did I have the full support of a strong backing from the party? I have to answer in the negative. The majority is not enough. However, I want to thank all colleagues who have stood with me in these days.”
“We need to fight unemployment, guarantee social cohesion and, in the refugee crisis, ensure order and humanity,” Mr. Faymann said. “The question was thus: Did I have the full support of a strong backing from the party? I have to answer in the negative. The majority is not enough. However, I want to thank all colleagues who have stood with me in these days.”
Mr. Hofer received more than a third of the vote in the first round of the election, on April 24, and independent candidates came in second and third. He faces a former Greens leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, in a tight runoff scheduled for May 22. The two establishment parties together received just 22 percent of the vote last month.
Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner of the Austrian People’s Party will serve as interim chancellor, said Astrid Salmhofer, a spokeswoman for President Heinz Fischer.
The establishment parties were dealt a big setback in September, when the Freedom Party, riding a wave of anxiety over the flood of migrants entering the Continent last year, finished second in regional elections in northern Austria with over 30 percent of the vote.
Under Austria’s Constitution, Mr. Mitterlehner could remain in office for days, weeks or even months, she said. Parliamentary elections are not expected until 2018, though an early election is now likely.
The Freedom Party’s strident anti-Islam message seems to have struck a chord even in Vienna, the former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with its tremendous diversity of ethnicity and language.
Michael Häupl, the veteran mayor of Vienna, who won a tight race last year with a pro-immigrant stance, will take over as the temporary leader of the Social Democrats, but a fierce contest for leadership of the party has already begun.
Among the challenges facing Austria are the integration of about 90,000 refugees and migrants who applied for asylum last year as hundreds of thousands more traveled through Austria on their way to Germany and Scandinavia.
Among the challenges facing Austria is the integration of about 90,000 refugees and migrants who applied for asylum last year, as hundreds of thousands more traveled through Austria on their way to Germany and Scandinavia.
Mr. Faymann initially supported Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, in welcoming the newcomers and refusing to set a limit on how many might come.
The Freedom Party’s nationalist and anti-Islam message seems to have struck a chord even in Vienna, with its storied history as the cosmopolitan former capital of the multiethnic and multilingual Austro-Hungarian Empire, and — from 1918 onward — as “Red Vienna,” where workers fought street battles to resist the rise of Nazism, in contrast to the crowds who cheered Hitler when he annexed Austria in 1938.
But opinion polls consistently showed that the Freedom Party, a far-right group hostile to immigrants and asylum seekers, was in the top position nationally. The chancellor eventually switched course, joining with his government partners in the mainstream center-right People’s Party in building fences on the borders and orchestrating the Balkan states along the migrant route to do the same.
In 1999 elections, the party finished second, and its populist leader, Jörg Haider, was eventually invited to join a government coalition by Wolfgang Schüssel, the leader of the People’s Party at the time. That prompted European partners, above all France, to effectively boycott Austria — much as foreign powers did after Austrians elected Kurt Waldheim as president in 1986 despite revelations that Mr. Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary general, had been attached to German military units in World War II that committed atrocities in the Balkans.
That stirred deep resistance from many Social Democrats. Things came to a head at Vienna’s May Day celebrations — typically a day of strength for the party, which has governed in the Austrian capital since the end of World War II. Mr. Faymann was booed and heckled as party members held high angry demands for his resignation.
Mr. Haider eventually lost power, and the Freedom Party split; he died in a car crash in 2008. But the party never went away, and it has enjoyed a surge of support as tensions over migration have grown.
That set in motion a flurry of back-room meetings, which — until now — had seemed destined to rescue Mr. Faymann at least through the summer and the crucial second round of presidential elections in May.
Mr. Faymann’s resignation is an indication of how seriously the two mainstream parties are taking the challenge from the Freedom Party.
It began its rise as a force to reckon with in 1986, when Jörg Haider, a charismatic populist, became its leader. He performed so strongly in national elections that year that the Social Democrats and the People’s Party formed a “grand coalition” that governed until 1999. The two mainstream parties led Austria into what was then the European Community and oversaw an economic revival after the fall of the Iron Curtain restored the country to its traditional place as a central European melting pot looking both East and West.
But in 1999, Mr. Haider’s party finished second, and he was eventually invited to join a government coalition by Wolfgang Schüssel, the leader of the People’s Party at the time. That prompted European partners, above all France, to effectively boycott Austria — much as foreign powers did after Austrians elected Kurt Waldheim as president in 1986 despite revelations that Mr. Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary general, had served in the German Army in World War II and witnessed Nazi atrocities in the Balkans.
Mr. Haider eventually lost power, and the Freedom Party split; he died in a car crash in 2008.
But the party never went away, and it has enjoyed a surge of support as tensions over migration have grown. The party is now led by Heinz-Christian Strache, a former dental technician who failed to win the Vienna mayor’s seat last fall. He has whipped up emotions in the presidential race, most recently last week, when he suggested that the district of northern Italy known as South Tyrol should have a chance to reunite with the Austrian province of Tyrol. Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, expressed outrage, and establishment figures in Austria were angry at the suggestion that a European border might be redrawn.
