Austrian lower house early election set for Oct. 15

The heads of all the parties to the Austrian lower house parliament agreed on an early election date of Oct. 15, local media reported on Tuesday.

The four opposition parties on Monday agreed upon a motion to be put to parliament for an early election, with the date either Oct. 8 or 15.

The two governing coalition parties, the Social Democrats and the People's Party, later approved the motion. Chancellor Christian Kern subsequently invited the leaders of all parties for talks on a concrete date.

The motion for the Oct. 15 date is expected to be put forth by the opposition parties on Wednesday with its approval expected to be a formality.

Still to be cleared up, however, is when the parliament will decide on the motion, with leaders indicating the current parliamentary investigation into the ongoing Eurofighter saga is presently a priority. According to Kern, a special session for this purpose could be convened. Enditem