Government Collapses; Austria to Vote in September

UNCLAS VIENNA 000965 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AU SUBJECT: Government Collapses; Austria to Vote in September ¶1. The Social Democrat Party (SPO) and the Conservative People's Party (OVP) decided July 7 to terminate their coalition and schedule early elections in September. ¶2. OVP chairman Vice-Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer announced at a press conference at 10:00 the morning of July 7 that the OVP could no longer work constructively with the SPO, which was in a leadership crisis and "without clear orientation." Moreover, he charged, the SPO had abandoned the joint government program by suddenly calling for referenda in Austria on future EU treaties. Molterer announced he would be the top candidate in the elections. ¶3. Following an SPO party presidium meeting also held the morning of July 7th, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer announced the SPO would vote with the OVP in favor of early elections. Gusenbauer asserted that the OVP had never accepted its defeat in the 2006 election and had obstructed the government work from the very beginning. Driving the nails into the coffin of his own political future, Gusenbauer also announced that the acting SPO party chairman, Infrastructure Minister Werner Faymann, will be the SPO's top candidate in the elections. The SPO will advance its party convention planned for October to nominate Faymann as top candidate. The convention will presumably take place in late July in Vienna. ¶4. Parliament will vote in favor of a motion calling for early elections this week. Possible election dates are September 14, 21 and 28. At the parliamentary meetings this week, some SPO Ministers and MPs wanted to try to obtain opposition support for projects which the OVP had rejected, most prominently the abolition of university student tuitions (which were introduced by the previous OVP-led government). Acting party chairman Faymann has, however, ruled out that the SPO would vote against the OVP in the remaining parliamentary meetings. The SPO would not vote with the rightwing/populist Freedom Party (FPO) against its coalition partner OVP, and would also not form a coalition with the FPO after the next elections, stressed Faymann. GIRARD-DICARLO