VIENNA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Norbert Hofer, leader of the right-wing populist party Freedom Party (FPO), said Monday morning that FPO will support the vote of no confidence against Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his cabinet, making it more likely to topple Kurz.
"Ultimately, it was a decision of the FPO parliament group," Hofer said before the start of a special session of the National Council on Monday, where a motion of no confidence against Kurz and his cabinet will be put to vote.
With FPO's support, the motion is very likely to find a majority to dismiss Kurz and all his ministers from office, which is unprecedented in Austria's post world war history.
In the case of a successful vote of no-confidence, President Alexander Van der Bellen would have to quickly appoint a transitional chancellor. New elections are planned in September.
Hofer confirmed informal talks with the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPO), saying he advocated an expert cabinet to take over the governance until September.
On Sunday evening, the SPO unanimously voted in favor of submitting a parliamentary motion of no-confidence on Monday against Kurz and the entire federal government, local media reported.
The motion against Kurz is a result of the government crisis which started on May 17 with the so-called Ibiza video. The secretly produced recording shows that ex-Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, who was also the ex leader of FPO, talked to a supposed Russian investor about lucrative infrastructure contracts.
Strache resigned from both positions after the release of the video excerpts, ending FPO's coalition with Kurz's center-right People's Party (OVP).
