The leader of Austria’s Freedom Party received a mandate Monday to form a new government, which would be the first headed by the far right since World War II if he succeeds.

He is so abrasive that he has one of Austria's lowest personal approval ratings, but far-right chief Herbert Kickl's strategic cunning helped his party to its first ever national election win and he now has a chance to become its first chancellor.

Austrian Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl is meeting the country’s president as expectations mount that he will be tasked with trying to form a new government, which would be the first led by the fa

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen tasked the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) on Monday with forming a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed unexpectedly over the weekend.

An estimated 500 people protested against “the return of a fascist state” outside Vienna’s presidential palace on Monday (January 6), according to police, hours before the country’s president tasked far-right FPO leader Herbert Kickl to form a coalition government.

The Austrian president has asked Herbert Kickl, the leader of the country's far-right Freedom Party, to form a new ruling coalition in what could yield the first far-right-led government in Austria since World War II.