The far-right Freedom Party was blocked in Austria as on Tuesday Austria's president asked incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer to form a new government. All other parties refused to work with the leader of the Freedom Party after they won a national election for the first time last month.

Austria’s president has tasked the incumbent chancellor with forming a new government after all other parties refused to work with the leader of the far-right Freedom Party.

Nehammer, whose center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) came in second to the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) in September’s parliamentary election, is expected to govern with the Social Democrats (SPÖ), but Van der Bellen emphasized that the two should find a third partner to form a strong majority.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has given incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the conservative ÖVP the mandate to form a government following September's elections. Nehammer should immediately start coalition negotiations with the social democratic SPÖ,