Austrian government approaching the end of his five-year term, officially announced that the next parliamentary elections in the Alpine republic will take place on September 29, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The news came on the heels of the narrow victory of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (AFP) over Chancellor Karl Nehhammer's conservative Austrian People's Party (ANP) in late last week's European Parliament elections, which were marred by an electoral rise of the hard-line right throughout the 27-member bloc.
At the vote on Sunday, the APS gathered 25.4% of the votes and thus won a national election for the first time in its history. ANP remained the second political force with 24.5%.
Sociologists predict in their studies for the upcoming parliamentary vote that in the coming months the difference between the two parties will increase even more in favor of the APS.
After the defeat of his party in the European elections, Nehamer admitted that "great dissatisfaction" had accumulated in society, as reported by the APA agency. He promised in the coming months that the ANP would convince voters that their concerns about issues such as migration and over-regulation were indeed being taken into account.
Austria's last parliamentary election was in 2019 and was produced after then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ended the ruling coalition between his right-wing Austrian People's Party and the far-right Austrian Freedom Party. This development came about after the publication of video footage in which APS leader Heinz-Christian Strache offers mouth-watering government contracts to an alleged Russian investor.