Austria's Kurz Isn't Finished Yet

For the past 48 hours, much of the international media has been airing the political obituary of Austria's fallen Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

But sources in Vienna who spoke to Newsmax agreed that the so-called "Boy Chancellor" is far from dead and may yet return to power.

"Austria’s Kurz was the golden boy for Europe’s conservatives. Then came scandal," blares the headline in The Washington Post Tuesday morning. 

The scandal is the police raid on the offices of Kurz's People's Party last week in search of evidence that the chancellor and other party leaders used state funds to finance allegedly "fixed" polls about potential rivals. 

The furor following the raid culminated in Kurz — at 35, the youngest head of government in the world — resigning as chancellor Sunday and turning over the chancellorship to Foreign Minister Count Alexander Schallenberg.

But Kurz was careful to say Sunday he was stepping "aside" and not stepping "down"— a strong signal that he envisions a return to power when and if courts vindicate his claim that he did nothing wrong.

"He is taking over the role of party leader in parliament," Hannelore Veit, former Washington, D.C., bureau chief of ORF (Austrian Television), told Newsmax. "Many observers doubt that he will let go, believe he will continue to dominate politics and the government."

Others pointed out that the choice of Schallenberg — an aristocrat and diplomat rather than a traditional politician — to serve as chancellor is a strong signal that the People's Party wanted a stopgap leader who would presumbably step aside when, and if, Kurz returns.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.