AUSTRIA TO SWEAR IN NEW CHANCELLOR

Vienna, Dec. 6: Austria’s Interior Minister Karl Nehammer is due to be sworn in as the country’s third chancellor in as many months on Monday, capping a turbulent few days in the country's politics.

President Alexander Van der Bellen is expected to formally swear in Nehammer at a ceremony at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace at around 1 pm local time (1200 GMT).

Current Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg offered his resignation on Thursday, hours after his predecessor and close ally Sebastian Kurz announced he was resigning as head of the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) in the wake of a corruption scandal.

On Friday the OeVP nominated Nehammer, 49, to take over as party head and chancellor.

Kurz’s resignation also prompted that of his close confidante Gernot Bluemel as finance minister. Nehammer’s first act has been to conduct a cabinet reshuffle, sending Schallenberg back to his previous post as foreign minister and appointing new finance, interior and education ministers. The OeVP is hoping its coalition government with the Green party will now be able to move on from the saga surrounding Kurz.