Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has asked the leader of the country's far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) to form a new ruling coalition in what could yield the first far-right-led government in Austria since World War Two.

The leader of the anti-immigration, pro-Russia Freedom Party has been given the chance to try to form a government after months of coalition talks among mainstream parties collapsed.

He is so abrasive that he has one of Austria's lowest personal approval ratings, but far-right chief Herbert Kickl's strategic cunning helped his party to its first ever national election win and he now has a chance to become its first chancellor.

Austrian Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl is meeting the country’s president as expectations mount that he will be tasked with trying to form a new government, which would be the first led by the fa

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen tasked the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) on Monday with forming a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed unexpectedly over the weekend.

An estimated 500 people protested against “the return of a fascist state” outside Vienna’s presidential palace on Monday (January 6), according to police, hours before the country’s president tasked far-right FPO leader Herbert Kickl to form a coalition government.