Austrian lawmakers from the Social Democrats and the right-wing Freedom Party have passed a motion of no confidence in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, while Kurz's Austrian People's Party (OVP) and liberal NEOS party voted against the motion.
"The National Assembly has withdrawn its confidence from the entire government for the first time in the Second Republic", the parliament's Twitter account read.
§ | Parlament aktuell: Der Nationalrat hat der gesamten Bundesregierung zum ersten Mal in der Zweiten Republik sein Misstrauen ausgesprochen. Dafür: SPÖ, FPÖ, Liste JETZT. Dagegen: ÖVP, NEOS. Mehr in Kürze: https://t.co/vfPan3pVyu
— Parlament Österreich (@OeParl) 27 мая 2019 г.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz after the vote assured the country's president that his party would ensure an orderly transfer of power and support any interim government.
“After the parliamentary vote, I called the federal president and assured him that we are ready for an orderly transfer of power and the transitional government, and that we will support the interim government unconditionally, regardless of who he [the president] finds," Kurz said in an address to supporters, broadcast by the ORF television.
Kurz added that his Austrian People's Party will take into account parliament's recent democratic decision, however, in the forthcoming months, it will be seeking the support of the public.
"Because today the decision has been made by the parliament, but ultimately, it will be the public that will decide in the democracy," he said while addressing his supporters.
The Freedom Party was in coalition with Kurz until last week, when the party found itself in the centre of a political scandal after its' former leader and the country's former Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was taped discussing potentially exchanging government contracts against help with election.
READ MORE: Austrian Bar Looks Into Claims of Viennese Lawyer's Involvement in Video Scandal
Following the scandal, Strache himself and all ministers from the Freedom Party, except for Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, resigned. Several days later, Kurz approved a list of new ministers who would replace those who resigned.
While media claimed that the woman was Russian, the official, who has described the video as an attempted "political assassination", said that she was from Latvia.
