VIENNA (Reuters) -Austria’s lower house voted on Wednesday in favour of lifting the parliamentary immunity of the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Herbert Kickl, to let prosecutors investigate an allegation of perjury as prosecutors requested.
The move paves the way for the Central Prosecutors’ Office for Economic Crimes and Corruption (WKStA) to open an investigation relating to a complaint filed in July by a then-lawmaker from the conservative People’s Party (OVP) about Kickl’s testimony to a parliamentary committee in April.
The complaint alleged that Kickl lied about various issues including advertisements in print media paid for by the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO. The FPO has said Kickl told the truth. Kickl has not commented.
“No one is above the rules,” OVP lawmaker Christoph Zarits, who filed the motion to lift Kickl’s immunity, told the chamber before the vote. “The same rules apply to Herbert Kickl as any other citizen.”
The lower house’s immunity committee met earlier on Wednesday and recommended that the chamber find that there was no reason not to lift Kickl’s immunity. All parties voted in favour, except the FPO.
OVP Chancellor Karl Nehammer is leading coalition talks with the Social Democrats and liberal Neos aimed at forming Austria’s first three-party government since 1949.
Those parties came second, third and fourth in Austria’s parliamentary election in September, which the FPO won.
Having secured around 29% of the vote, the FPO would have needed a coalition partner to secure a majority in parliament and govern.
President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, found that no party was willing to govern with the FPO and therefore tasked Nehammer with forming a government instead.
(Reporting by Francois MurphyEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
Comments