Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his government toppled as parliament passes no-confidence vote

‘To topple the government a few months before an election is something few people in this country can understand,’ embattled leader says

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz takes a sip of water at the parliament in Vienna on Monday (AP)

The Austrian parliament has voted to oust chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his ministers, paving the way for a caretaker government before a new election in which the young leader and his party could emerge strengthened.

Parliament needed only a majority vote to pass the measure proposed by the opposition Social Democrats (SPO) to oust Mr Kurz and his Austrian People’s Party (OVP).

Mr Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) earlier this month after a video emerged which shows the Freedom Party’s leader appearing to offer favours to a purported Russian investor.

That prompted the Social Democrat’s motion to remove Mr Kurz and his party from government. A new election is planned for September.

The vote comes a day after Mr Kurz’s party emerged strengthened in the European parliament elections.

In the wake of the video sting that forced the FPO vice chancellor to resign, Mr Kurz filled all ministerial posts previously held by FPO lawmakers with civil servants.

However, he hopes to use OVP’s European election success as a springboard for re-election while presenting himself more as a victim of the political crisis than an enabler who brought the far right to power.

“The Kurz government has failed,” SPO deputy parliamentary faction head Joerg Leichtfried told members of parliament before his party submitted the motion. “Mr Kurz gambled away his chances and, Mr Chancellor, you bear full responsibility.”

FPO politicians earlier unanimously agreed to support the SPO motion. The two parties’ 103 seats combined in the 183-seat lower house of parliament easily gave them the required majority.

Mr Kurz will now nominate a new chancellor to put together a caretaker government able to last until elections in September.

“To topple the government a few months before an election is something few people in this country can understand,” Mr Kurz said ahead of the vote.

“Parliament will have its say on Monday,” Mr Kurz said on Facebook prior to the no-confidence votes. “But at the end of the day the people will decide, namely in September.”

Despite the scandal, Mr Kurz’s OVP won a larger share of support in the European ballot than in Austria’s parliamentary election of 2017, while the SPO’s share of the vote shrank.

FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned from all his political posts after the video footage, which appeared to show him discussing fixing government contracts, was published by two German media outlets.

Prosecutors in Vienna said they were investigating the sting video “in multiple directions”, but declined to elaborate.

Additional reporting by Reuters