Austria's grand coalition faces collapse

After Austria's Social Democrats (SPÖ) agreed to the setting up of an enquiry committee to investigate claims of corruption against their coalition partner, the conservative ÖVP, the coalition is on the verge of collapse. However Martina Salomon sees no way out of the current alliance for the SPÖ, considering a coalition with the right-wing populist FPÖ just as unlikely as an alliance with the Greens: "The Austrian politicians' self-destructive conduct has reached the point where new elections would be a game of Russian roulette for the chancellor. Thanks to the rapidly-growing 'party' of non-voters and 'white voters' (who intentionally make invalid votes), it's hard to predict the election result. Despite its freshly-oiled voting machinery, the SPÖ is in danger of ending up in second place. And because the big parties are losing ground, alternatives to the grand coalition haven't much of a chance of success."

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