Last Saturday (January 4th), Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer resigned from his position as Chancellor and leader of the People's Party due to the failure of negotiations to form a new government. However, this is not the most astonishing. What truly caused a political earthquake was the important decision made by the Austrian President next:

At noon on Monday, Austrian President Van der Bellen announced that he had entrusted Herbert Kickl, leader of the right-wing populist Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs(FPÖ), to try to reorganize the government. This means that the first government dominated by a far-right party in Austria's history is about to be born.

Kickl, 56, who positioned himself as the "people's prime minister" during the campaign, is known for his stance on Russia, his opposition to unrestricted EU aid to Ukraine and his policy of mass deportations of migrants.

At the end of September last year, the right-wing populist FPÖ won 28.9% of the vote in the general election, becoming the largest party in parliament. Prime Minister Nehammer's Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP, center-right) fell to the second largest party with 26.3% of the vote, and the center-left Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ) ranked third with 21.14% of the vote.

Immediately afterwards, Nehammer was entrusted by the president to take the lead in forming the cabinet. Nehammer, who has always insisted on not cooperating with far-right parties, tried to form a coalition government without the participation of the FPÖ, but this attempt ultimately failed - the negotiations to form the government broke down this past weekend. Nehammer himself announced his resignation, and handed over the authorization to form a cabinet.

What happened next attracted global attention: the FPÖ got the right to lead the formation of the government. After Nehammer resigned as chairman of the ÖVP, his successor has announced that he will start negotiations to form a government with the FPÖ. If the government is successfully formed, the FPÖ, which has far-right leanings, will occupy the chancellery for the first time. FPÖ Chairman Kickl is likely to be appointed as the new caretaker prime minister within a week.

In the past two decades, the FPÖ and the ÖVP have twice formed a coalition government, but at that time the center-right ÖVP prevailed and took charge of the Chancellery.

Austrian President Van der Bellen, who has a DIE GRÜNEN background, said that under the current extremely difficult economic situation, Austria urgently needs a government capable of action, while FPÖ Chairman Kickl promised the president that he is qualified to serve as prime minister.

Van der Bellen also said that as president, he must respect the results of votes, even if it does not meet his own wishes. In fact, Van der Bellen has no choice. If Kickl is not authorized to form a government, Austria must hold a new election. According to current polls, the FPÖ will increase its vote by about 7%.

"The Brandmauer has collapsed"

In German political discourse, the term "Brandmauer" is used to describe the "separation line" between mainstream parties (especially centrist or democratic parties) and extremist parties (especially the far right), aiming to pass through refuse to cooperate with extremist parties to defend democratic values. Now, the " Brandmauer " of neighboring Austria has collapsed, making the German political arena tremble.