Austria's Social Democrats have decided to appoint national railways boss Christian Kern as the country's chancellor following Werner Faymann's resignation, the interim head of the party said Friday. "The decision has been taken," the Austria Press Agency quoted Michael Haeupl as saying. He added that a formal decision will be taken on Tuesday by the party's directorate.= Faymann, 56, quit on Monday two weeks after a humiliating defeat in the first round of an election for the largely ceremonial post of president at the hands of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe).
Mirroring similar developments across Europe, the SPOe and its centre-right coalition partner the People's Party (OeVP) have been bleeding support to fringe groups, especially the FPOe. They only just managed to scratch together a majority at the last general election in 2013 and opinion polls suggest that when Austrians go to the polls again in 2018 - or sooner - they will fall short.
Faymann took a harder line on migrants in recent months, but this failed to boost his support and alienated many in the SPOe, particularly those in the left wing of the party. The final straw was the first round of the presidential election on April 24 when the FPOe's Norbert Hofer scored 35 percent and the main parties' candidates won a dismal 11 percent each. This meant that for the first time since 1945, Austria will not have a head of state from either of these two parties. Hofer, 45, portrayed as a friendly face of the FPOe, will take on Alexander van der Bellen, 72, the professorial former head of the Greens, in a runoff on May 22.
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