Austria's polarising far-right leader bids to become chancellor

Head of Freedom Party (FPOe) Herbert Kickl waits for the start of a TV discussion in Vienna, Austria, September 23, 2024. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

VIENNA (Reuters) - He is so abrasive that he has one of Austria's lowest personal approval ratings, but far-right chief Herbert Kickl's strategic cunning helped his party to its first ever national election win and he now has a chance to become its first chancellor.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked Kickl, head of the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO), with forming a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed over the weekend.