WORLD
Austria's Sebastian Kurz calls for snap elections after corruption scandal
Baku, May 19, AZERTAC
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Saturday that the country would have fresh elections in the wake of a major scandal involving now-former-Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, Deutsche Welle reported.
Kurz praised his own Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) for seeing through many of its campaign promises with the help of Strache's far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), but the chancellor said that "enough is enough" after the latest FPÖ embarrassment.
"I promised voters I would remain true to myself, no matter what," Kurz said, declaring that he had withdrawn the ÖVP from the government. "I said I would always do what is right and what is necessary."
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen later confirmed that there would be a new election, but a date has not yet been determined. Van der Bellen condemned the "bold disrespect to the citizens of our country."