Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen announced in Vienna on Monday that he would release the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz from duties on Tuesday.
“I will release the federal government tomorrow at 11.30,” said Van der Bellen during an address to the nation. My job is to see that all steps are followed correctly. That’s even more important in this unclear political situation because our state, the Republic of Austria, always needs to function
Earlier in the day, Kurz lost a no-confidence vote passed by the lower house of the Austrian parliament.
The no-confidence vote was called by parties on the left of the political spectrum and backed by the Freedom Party (FPO), Kurz’s former coalition partner.
Van der Bellen has reportedly entrusted Vice Chancellor Hartwig Loger to head the federal Chancellery and the federal government.
The political chaos in Austria comes in the wake of a scandal involving former Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache that resulted in his resignation. A widely-circulated video shows Strache allegedly accepting support in the elections from a woman who claimed to be a Russian investor in exchange for public contracts in 2017.