Austrian Chancellor resigns amid corruption probe

Sebastian Kurz, once the poster-child for centre-right politics in Europe, last week resigned amid increased suspicion over his role in an ongoing corruption probe which has cast a shadow over his government for months. However, it was only on Wednesday of last week that the details of prosecutors’ suspicions regarding the chancellor became public, after the police raided his office.

Mr Kurz made the decision to resign rather than face a no confidence vote which would have left his party, OVP, in opposition. He acknowledged that he had made mistakes in connection with the corruption affair, which involves allegations that he used public money to bribe pollsters and journalists, but fully expects to be cleared of any wrong-doing.

Current Foreign Minister and former diplomat Alexander Schallenberg has taken over as the new head of government. Kurz will remain on as an MP and will take over the party’s parliamentary group. He also remains the head of his party and will assume the role of de-facto ‘shadow chancellor’ to Schallenberg.

A series of text messages were discussed by prosecutors and subsequently published, which were said to have infuriated and embarrassed Kurz, particularly as they pertained to his endeavour to become Chancellor, a year before he ultimately landed the top job. The text exchanges also belied a ruthlessness not unusual in politics, but unusual to make their way into the public realm. Kurz may be worried that his more candid texts will alienate his voters and leave him on the political sidelines, especially as one of his core election promises was to do away with corruption and clean up Austrian politics.