Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen tasked the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, with forming a coalition government.
If the talks succeed, Austria will, for the first time, have a government led by the Eurosceptic and Russia-friendly Freedom Party.
The Freedom Party of Austria has been in power before, but only as a junior coalition partner.
The party came in first place in the September elections, receiving nearly 29% of the votes, but was then marginalized.
President Van der Bellen angered the Freedom Party by not tasking him with forming a government shortly after the elections.
At that time, leaders of all other parties ruled out an alliance with Kekel.
In October, Van der Bellen gave the conservative People's Party, which came in second place in the election with 26%, The task of forming a coalition.
Former OVP leader, Chancellor Karl Nehammer, described Keckel as a conspiracy theorist and a threat to security.
But Nehammer attempts to form a centrist coalition of three parties and then two parties It collapsed this weekend.
He then resigned and the new leader of the Conservatives, Christian Stocker, said his party would be willing to hold talks with Kickl.
President Van der Bellen has now tasked Kickel with forming the government.
The move represents a radical reversal for the president, the former leader of the Green Party, who has long criticized the Freedom Party and expressed reservations about Kickel as chancellor.
Van der Bellen said on Monday that he did not take “this step lightly.” He said he would “continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our Constitution are properly observed and adhered to.”
In recent months, Van der Bellen has repeatedly said he will remain vigilant to ensure respect for “pillars of democracy” including human rights, independent media and Austria's membership of the European Union.
The Freedom Party and the People's Representative Party overlap on a number of issues and each takes a hardline stance on immigration.
But they disagreed over the opposition of the European Union and the Freedom Party to helping Ukraine in its war against Russia.
There is no time frame for coalition talks, which usually take two or three months, but could be faster.
If the talks fail, early elections will likely be held. Opinion polls indicate that support for the Freedom Party has increased since September.
