By Hatice Vildan Topaloglu

ANKARA

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann stood down Monday after losing the support of his Social Democratic Party (SPO), local media reported.

Faymann, who held office for nearly eight years, also resigned as SPO leader. “I retire as the president of the party and as chancellor,” he said in remarks reported by the Osterreich newspaper’s website.

He had faced calls to quit following the SPO’s defeat in the first round of the April 24 presidential election, which saw the far-right Freedom Party win more than a third of votes.

The 56-year-old was also criticized for first defending Austria’s open-door refugee policy and then performing a U-turn in March, imposing a cap on asylum applications and erecting a fence along the border with Slovenia.