Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen has tasked Herbert Kickel, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, with forming a coalition government.

If the talks are successful, Austria will have a government led by the Eurosceptic, pro-Russian Freedom Party (FPO) for the first time.

The FPO has been in power before, but only as a junior coalition partner.

The party led in September’s election with about 29% of the vote, but was subsequently marginalized.

President Van der Bellen infuriated the Federal Politburo by not tasking it with forming a government immediately after the election.

At the time, leaders of all other parties ruled out a coalition with Kickl.

In October, Van der Bellen told the conservative People’s Party (OVP), which came in second place in the election with 26 percent of the vote, The task of forming an alliance.

Former OVP leader Karl Nehammer called Kickel a conspiracy theorist and a security threat.

But Nehammer tried to form a three-party, then a two-party centrist coalition Crash this weekend.

He subsequently resigned, and new Conservative leader Christian Stock said his party was willing to hold talks with Kickel.

President Van der Bellen now tasked Kickel with forming a government.

The move is a dramatic about-face for the president, a former Green Party leader who has long criticized the Liberals and expressed reservations about Kickel becoming prime minister.

On Monday, Van der Bellen said he “did not take this step lightly.” He said he would “continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our constitution are properly observed and adhered to”.

Van der Bellen has repeatedly said in recent months that he will remain vigilant to ensure that “the cornerstones of democracy” including human rights, independent media and Austria’s EU membership are respected.

The Liberals and People’s Party overlap on many issues and both take hard-line stances on immigration.

However, they clashed over EU and Liberal opposition to aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

There is no timetable for alliance negotiations, which usually take two to three months, but could be sooner.

If negotiations fail, an early election could be called. Opinion polls show support for the Liberals has increased since September.