Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann steps down

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann resigned on Monday from his post as leader of the government and the Social Democratic Party, according to the Austria press agency.

Faymann resigned two weeks after his party was defeated in the first round of the presidential elections; won by far right candidate Rudolf Hundstorfer after securing 35 percent of the total votes, and who will go head to head in the runoffs against the environmentalist Alexander Van der Bellen, who won 21 percent of the votes.

A spokesperson for the Austrian presidency said that Faymann had informed President Heinz Fischer by telephone of his decision to resign on Monday morning.

Vice chancellor and chairman of the Austrian People’s Party, Reinhold Mitterlehner Vizekanzler, has been appointed as interim head of government, while the mayor of Vienna, Michael Haupol, will take responsibility for leading the Social Democratic Party.