Austrian leader calls early election amid video scandal

VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called Saturday for an early election after his vice chancellor resigned over a covertly shot video that showed him apparently promising government contracts to a prospective Russian investor.

Kurz said he would ask President Alexander Van der Bellen to set a date for a new election “as soon as possible.”

Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the anti-immigrant Freedom Party, resigned earlier Saturday, a day after the video was published. His party is in the ruling coalition with Kurz’s People’s Party.

The video hit a nerve amid broader concerns about ties between Russia and right-wing populist parties critical of the European Union, all the moreso because the Freedom Party is part of a Western government. In 2016, Strache went to Moscow to sign a “cooperation pact” with the United Russia party, which is loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Strache’s resignation was also a black eye for the populist and nationalist forces who favor tighter European immigration policies. It came only a few days before the May 23-26 elections in 28 European Union nations to fill the 751-seat European Parliament. Nationalists and populists across Europe are competing to achieve a strong showing in that vote.

At a news conference late Saturday, Kurz said talks with other officials from the Freedom Party showed they were not willing to make the changes that Kurz felt were necessary to continue the current coalition. Kurz also said a possible coalition with the center-left Social Democrats would derail the government’s program of limiting debt and taxes.

No date was immediately given for a new vote. Austria’s public ORF television reported analysts saying the vote could take place in September.