All parliamentary parties except the FPÖ voted for the abolition of immunity.
Austria’s lower house of parliament voted on Wednesday to lift parliamentary immunity for Free Party of Austria (FPÖ) chairman Herbert Kickl to allow prosecutors to investigate allegations of his alleged perjury. TASR informs about it according to the Reuters agency.
The waiver of immunity paves the way for the Austrian Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) to open an investigation related to a complaint filed in July by a then-Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) deputy in connection with Kickl’s testimony before a parliamentary committee in April. The complaint alleges that Kickl lied in his deposition about various issues, including print media advertisements paid for by the FPÖ.
Christoph Zarits, MP for the ÖVP, submitted the proposal to cancel the parliamentary immunity of the head of the FPÖ. Even before the vote, he stated that no one is above the law. “The same rules apply to Herbert Kickl as to any other citizen,” he added.
The immunity committee of the parliament held a meeting on the matter on Wednesday, which told the deputies that there is no reason not to deprive Kickl of his immunity. Subsequently, all parliamentary parties except the FPÖ voted for the cancellation of his immunity.
The winner of the parliamentary elections
Kickl’s FPÖ won the September parliamentary elections, but President Alexander Van der Bellen entrusted acting Chancellor Karl Nehammer, the leader of the ÖVP, with the formation of the government, which he explained by the fact that no parliamentary party wants to enter into a coalition with the far-right FPÖ. Kickl sharply criticized this decision.
Nehammer is currently negotiating the formation of a government on behalf of the People’s Party, who finished second in the elections, with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) in third and the liberal party NEOS in fourth.
