Austria gets first female chancellor as interim head

30 May 2019, 5:47 pm

Edit

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen appoints the head of the country’s constitutional court as Austria’s first female chancellor to lead an interim government until elections in the autumn.

Brigitte Bierlein will now be tasked with forming a cabinet after the previous government collapsed spectacularly over the so-called “Ibiza-gate” corruption scandal.

“I will seek to win Austrians’ trust,” Bierlein says alongside Van der Bellen in a televised statement, saying she would hold talks with political parties and civil society organizations in the coming days.

The appointment comes after Sebastian Kurz became the first chancellor in Austrian history to be thrown out of office by a no-confidence vote of MPs earlier this week.

— AFP