Austrian Parliament seems all set to sack Chancellor Kurtz

Austria's parliament appeared all but certain to sack conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Monday after lawmakers from the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) agreed to support a motion of no-confidence in his caretaker government. Kurz's People's Party came out on top in Sunday's European Parliament election, only a week after a video sting scandal prompted far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down and Kurz to scrap the coalition between their parties.

Kurz now heads a caretaker government that he hopes to use as a springboard for re-election, presenting himself as more of a victim of the political crisis set off by the video than an enabler of it who brought the far right to power. But with the next election expected in September, opposition parties say Kurz must share the blame, and they moved in parliament to depose what is effectively a minority government in which FPO ministers were replaced by civil servants.

"The Kurz government has failed," the Social Democrats' (SPO) deputy parliamentary faction head Joerg Leichtfried said in a speech to parliament, minutes before his party submitted the motion. "Kurz gambled away his chances and, Mr Chancellor, you bear full responsibility." FPO lawmakers earlier unanimously agreed to support the SPO motion, several of those who attended a party meeting told reporters. The two parties have 103 seats combined in the 183-seat lower house of parliament, easily giving them the majority required for the motion to pass.

If Kurz goes, Austria's president will nominate a new chancellor to put together a caretaker government able to last until the election. "To topple the government a few months before an election is something few people in this country can understand," Kurz told lawmakers, presenting himself as a force for stability.

A smaller party submitted a second no-confidence motion against Kurz, though who would support it was unclear. "Parliament will have its say on Monday," Kurz said on Facebook prior to the no-confidence votes. "But at the end of the day, the people will decide, namely in September"

Despite the scandal, Kurz's People's Party (OVP) won a larger share of support in the European ballot than in Austria's parliamentary election of 2017, while the SPO's share of the vote shrank. FPO leader Strache resigned from all his political posts after the video footage, which appeared to show him discussing fixing government contracts, was published by two German media outlets.

Vienna prosecutors said they were investigating the sting video "in multiple directions", but declined to provide further details.