Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz plans to hold coalition talks with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), he said on Tuesday, a step towards bringing the anti-immigration party back into government after more than a decade in opposition.
Having won last week’s parliamentary election with 31.5 percent of the vote, Kurz’s party is well short of a majority and needs a coalition partner to gain control of parliament and form a stable government. Only two parties have enough seats to do that with -- the Social Democrats and the FPO.
"I have therefore decided to invite (FPO leader) Heinz-Christian Strache and the FPO today to take part in coalition talks,” Kurz told a news conference at the headquarters of his People’s Party, adding that a minority government was a "good Plan B” if those talks failed.