Austrian President initiates talks on forming new coalition

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has initiated preliminary talks with leaders of the parliamentary parties that secured seats in the National Council elections, to discuss the formation of a new governing coalition. The Austrian President met on Friday with Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, which won the most seats in the parliamentary elections. According to a statement by the Presidential Office in Vienna, Van der Bellen is scheduled to meet leaders of the other four parties - the People's Party, the Social Democratic Party, the New Austria and Liberal Forum, and the Greens - in the coming days. President Van der Bellen is aiming to gauge the capacity of party leaders to agree on and form a governing coalition that will hold the necessary majority in Parliament. Once this assessment is completed, he will assign the task of forming a government to the leader of the party with the best chance of securing a parliamentary majority. This responsibility typically falls to the lea der of the party that obtained the highest number of votes in the election. Source: Emirates News Agency