After almost five months of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) vistory in the national election, with nearly 29% of votes, the three centrist parties in Austria's parliament are on the verge of agreeing to form a coalition.

“I am very confident that in the common ground that we have found, we will manage to finalise a coalition government agreement”, said Christian Stocker, leader of the conservative Austria's People's party (ÖVP). After two failed attempts, an agreement between the ÖVP, Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the economically liberal Neos would bring to an end the longest wait for a new Austrian government since World War Two.

After the election in September 2024, the ÖVP first attempted to form a three-party coalition with the SPÖ and the EOS, butthose negotiations collapsed. Then, Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen tasked FPÖ leader, Herbert Kickl, to form a new government, but five weeks later those talks collapsed as well. The nationalist populists said a new eleection was needed and criticised what Kickl calls a ‘coalition of losers’.

ÖEA: “A mirror of society”

Oliver Stozek, general secretary of the Austria Evangelical Alliance (ÖEA), issued a statement on February 18, addressing the failure of two first coalition talks and the role of Christians amid this situation.

For Stozek, there are “politicians in both rounds of negotiations who were unable to switch out of election campaign mode, think outside their own ideological box and look for solutions for the country. Solutions that you might never have proposed yourself, but that you can go along with”.

“To a certain extent, this failure seems to me like a mirror of society”, says the evangelical representative. “In many areas, we are experiencing increasing polarisation, with everyone insisting on maximum positions. The people have the feeling that they are becoming increasingly voiceless and should join one of the two poles”.

Stozek also warns that “those poles offer the advantage of simple answers in an increasingly complex world. Points of view and facts that do not fit into one's own worldview are ignored”.

“Christians as unifiers and peacemakers”

Stozek believes that Austria “is not in danger of sliding into a national crisis or ungovernability”, because “it has a transitional government”, but the country “needs impetus to get to grips with the problems at hand and it is rather unlikely that an expert or transitional government will provide that”.

“Given that new elections would likely result in a similar political composition, I don’t believe that would be the best solution for the country”, he adds, calling on Christians to “pray that God will give us a good government”.

The leader of the Austrian Evangelical Alliance is “convinced that we as Christians are called to act as unifiers and peacemakers. Jesus showed us that we can and even should accept people, even if what they do is wrong or we feel that way”.

“This gives us an answer with which we can counteract the polarisation of society”, concludes the ÖEA secretary.