The fact that the number one party did not ultimately form a coalition and appoint the chancellor was something that already happened with the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition after the 1999 election, but without a mandate from the Federal President.
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Coalition: Van der Bellen instructs Nehammer to form a government
The election winner at the time, despite bitter losses, the SPÖ under Viktor Klima, also had to wait the longest at 67 days for the – ultimately failed – mandate to form a government from Federal President Thomas Klestil. In view of the tricky situation – the FPÖ came second for the first time, the third-ranked ÖVP wanted to go into opposition, the SPÖ with the largest vote ruled out a coalition with the Freedom Party – eleven days after the election, Klestil initially only gave SPÖ leader Viktor Klima an “exploratory order”. Only after weeks of discussions with all parties, in which Klestil was also actively involved, did Klima receive a formal mandate to form a government almost ten weeks after the election.
“Completely unusual case”
After the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP failed, Klestil renewed the mandate to form a government to Klima, which now also extended to an SPÖ minority government. Meanwhile, ÖVP leader Wolfgang Schüssel was already negotiating with the Freedom Party without a mandate to form a government. Ultimately, Klestil had no choice but to swear in the black-blue government on February 4, 2000, 124 days after the election.
OÖN analysis with domestic policy chief Sigrid Brandstätter:
Van der Bellen argues the current decision with the “completely unusual case” that no one wants to work with the FPÖ as the party with the largest number of votes in a government. In addition, the National Council election is not a race in which the first person to the finish line automatically forms the government. “No one can claim the entire people for themselves,” said the Federal President, probably in the direction of the Freedom Party under Herbert Kickl, who had claimed the chancellorship after their election victory with 28.8 percent of the vote.
