Austria female chancellor

Austria to get first female chancellor to lead caretaker Cabinet

Top court justice Brigitte Bierlein will be tasked with forming interim government until snap election.

By CARMEN PAUN

Top court justice Brigitte Bierlein was named to become Austria's first female chancellor Thursday, tasked with forming a caretaker government until September's snap election.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen announced the nomination of Bierlein, who has led Austria's Constitutional Court for over a year, calling her a "prudent" and "highly competent" individual.

The announcement comes after Van der Bellen consulted the three main political parties on Thursday, in the aftermath of Sebastian Kurz being forced out as chancellor after losing a no-confidence vote on Monday.

The crisis which led to the government collapse was triggered by a video that emerged earlier this month, showing Kurz's then-vice chancellor and leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) Heinz-Christian Strache meeting a woman he believed to be the wealthy niece of a Russian oligarch on the island of Ibiza ahead of the 2017 Austrian election. In the video, Strache is seen attempting to trade lucrative public contracts for campaign support from the woman.

"This is an exceptional situation, and exceptional situations need exceptional determination to put oneself at the service of this republic at this moment," Van der Bellen said Thursday of Bierlein.

She will take over from Hartwig Löger, who has been serving as acting Austrian chancellor since Kurz's departure on Monday.