Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ousted in no-confidence vote
BERLIN - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was ousted by parliament in a no-confidence vote Monday following a scandal that had already brought down his coalition government.
The 32-year-old Kurz, who came to power in 2017 as the world’s youngest elected leader, was removed from office in a vote that saw both the opposition Social Democrats and his onetime partner - the far-right Freedom Party - turn against him.
Kurz was the first Austrian leader to be ousted via a no-confidence vote in the country’s postwar history. But the conservative’s exile from the nation’s most powerful office may be temporary; he had already announced elections slated for September, and polls show that his party enjoys a commanding lead.
In European Parliamentary elections Sunday, his People’s Party won a resounding victory, suggesting voters don’t hold him responsible for the controversy that befell the Freedom Party.
The far right saw its support shrink in the Sunday balloting, with the Freedom Party falling to a distant third place.
Kurz has led one of the European Union’s smaller members - Austria’s population is just under 9 million - but he has played an outsize role in the continent’s politics during his brief run in power since elections vaulted him to the top job in late 2017.
Derided by critics as “Trump in a slim-fit suit,” the young politician had won fans among many in the U.S. president’s orbit by reinvigorating his once-stodgy party and adopting many of the ideas, policies and slogans of the far-right.
Kurz took a hard line on immigration, advocating tougher policies aimed at halting the flow of asylum seekers into Europe. He also aggressively fought culture wars, pushing through a ban on Islamic headscarves in primary schools.
But unlike the continent’s populist politicians, Kurz generally avoided inflammatory rhetoric and presented himself as a modern conservative who, while clearly to the right of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is still rooted in the European mainstream. After the 2017 elections, Kurz opted for a coalition with the Freedom Party rather than another of the “grand coalitions” between centrist parties that have dominated Austria’s postwar era.