Austria sets Sept. 29 as date for early national election

BERLIN – Austrian authorities have set Sept. 29 as the date for the country’s early parliamentary election following the collapse of ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s coalition government.

The Austria Press Agency reported that the Cabinet and a parliamentary committee formally approved the date on Wednesday.

Kurz pulled the plug on the coalition of his centre-right People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party in May, less than two years into the government’s five-year term. That followed the publication of a video showing Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache appearing to offer lucrative government contracts to a purported Russian investor.

Kurz then lost a confidence vote in parliament. A non-partisan interim administration under Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, previously the head of the country’s constitutional Court, is running Austria until a new elected government is in place.