Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz steps down amid corruption probe

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Saturday, 9 October, stepped down from his post, bowing to growing pressure over the corruption probe. While speaking in a televised address on Austrian television, Kurz announced his resignation but said that the corruption allegations against him were “wrong”. In a brief statement, the 35-year-old conservative leader said that he had come to the conclusion that it would have been “irresponsible” for him to wait for the opposition to oust him as chancellor with a no-confidence vote. 

“My country is more important to me than my own person,” he said. “I am resigning to prevent chaos.”

Further, Kurz said that Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg would become the new chancellor. He added that he plans to remain an MP and would take over the party’s parliamentary group. Kurz also said that he will still remain the head of his Austrian People’s Party. 

Austria’s political crisis 

According to BBC, Kurz’s resignation comes after he, along with nine other ministers, was placed under investigation following raids at a number of locations linked to his conservative ÖVP People's Party. Before his resignation, opposition parties had threatened to bring a vote of no-confidence against him in parliament. However, on Saturday, Kurz announced that he is stepping down from his post, even though he denied claims that he used government money to ensure positive coverage in a tabloid newspaper. 

Austrian authorities, on the other hand, suspect Kurz of masterminding a conspiracy that involved embezzling finance ministry funds to pay for polls that served his political agenda. According to reports, Kurz’s associated allegedly approach Austrian media with the fake data, offering them lucrative government-sponsored advertising if they agreed to carry the polls and write articles about the ÖVP People's Party. Now, Kurz, nine other individuals, and three organisations have been placed under investigation on suspicion of breach of trust, corruption and bribery. 

Kurz became leader of ÖVP People's Party in 2017 and he led his party to victory in elections later that year. At the age of 31, Kurz became the world’s youngest-ever democratically-elected head of government. After being elected as the Chancellor, Kurz came into the limelight for solving Europe’s biggest crisis - the refugee influx of 2015. His party was also the driving force behind a law banning full-face Muslim veils in public spaces. 

(Image: AP)