Vienna, 24 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - For the first time, a representative of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has taken up the post at the helm of the Austrian parliament.

The second-highest office in the state behind the president will now be held by Walter Rosenkranz after he was elected president of the lower house of parliament in Vienna, the National Council, on Thursday, four weeks after the FPÖ's historic victory in parliamentary elections.

A total of 100 of the 183 members of parliament voted for Rosenkranz in a secret ballot. The Green faction unanimously rejected him. Many parliamentarians from other parties also did not support him.

Traditionally, the largest faction appoints the president of the main parliamentary chamber.

However, it is not traditional to elect someone to this position whose party is anti-European and does not sufficiently distance itself from far-right extremism, Green Party leader Werner Kogler stressed. "This republic deserves something different and something better," he said.

Warnings from civil society

Austria's Jewish community, the Austrian Mauthausen Committee, which does scientific and educational work related to Nazi-era concentration camps, and the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance also issued warnings about making Rosenkranz the National Council's president. These organizations pointed out, among other things, that Rosenkranz is a member of a far-right fraternity.

The 62-year-old Rosenkranz served in the past five years as the ombudsman in Austria's official citizens' complaint office.

From 2008 to 2019, he was a member of parliament, partly as FPÖ faction leader.

Coalition talks start on Friday

As a first step towards a possible government coalition, the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) plan to begin talks on Friday.

Traditionally, the party with the most votes is tasked with forming a government, but no party wants to govern with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. Therefore, President Alexander Van der Bellen tasked the current chancellor and ÖVP leader, Karl Nehammer, with negotiating with the SPÖ.

Photo: EPA