Austrian Chancellor resigns amid party split fueled by huge far-right gains

RT — Austria’s Werner Faymann has unexpectedly resigned both as Chancellor and as leader of the Social Democrats two week after his party suffered serious losses to the anti-immigration Freedom Party during the first round of presidential elections.

Faymann who has been in office since 2008, has faced criticism within his Social Democrat party after the far-right Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer won the first round of presidential elections last month.

Mitterlehner who serves as Vice Chancellor said there is no need for snap elections, APA news agency reported. With the far-right parties currently maintaining high support, the move seemed logical, as otherwise the Social Democrat party ran the risk of losing the chancellorship.

The next general elections in Austria are scheduled for 2018.

“For us it was a big surprise as we believed the personnel debate at the Social Democrats had been done,” Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling told reporters in Brussels.

A successor to Faymann in the Social Democratic Party is set be found at a meeting next week. Until that moment, Michael Haeupl, the mayor of Vienna, has been asked to take office. Haeupl shrugged off the possibility of going after the chancellor’s post, saying that he has“no intention of becoming it.”

Faymann’s resignation should not come as a big surprise to most of the observers, believes Reinhard Kreissl of Vienna Center For Social Security, since “the party is split.”

“Some stick to the old socialist ideas… while the others try to sing the song of the Freedom Party, more right-wing populist party,” Kreissl told RT. “Faymann didn’t have the guts to reconcile these two factions.”