Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has denied wrongdoing and vowed to remain the country's leader after anti-corruption prosecutors said he is under investigation in a probe into suspected bribery.
However, his coalition partner said the allegations left a "disastrous" impression and raised questions over the chancellor's "ability to act".
Prosecutors said they are conducting an investigation into Mr Kurz and nine other people, as well as three organisations they did not identify, on suspicion of breach of trust and bribery.
They conducted searches at the chancellery, the finance ministry and the offices of Mr Kurz's conservative Austrian People's Party.
The case centres on allegations that finance ministry money was used between 2016 and at least 2018 to pay for manipulated polls that were published in a newspaper without being declared as advertising.
Mr Kurz became his party's leader and then chancellor in 2017 after previously serving as Austria's foreign minister.
In a separate case, the 35-year-old chancellor was put under investigation in May by anti-corruption authorities on suspicion of making false statements to a parliamentary commission, an allegation he has also rejected.
Mr Kurz rejected responsibility in the latest case in an interview with ORF public television.
"There is absolutely no indication that I directed what adverts or polls were commissioned at the finance ministry," he said.
He said text messages from him contain no instructions or requests, "and at the same time prosecutors put the theory out there that everything is directed by Kurz".
The chancellor said he was "very calm" about the accusations.
"What I can't understand is why I am always supposed to be to blame for all wrongdoing," he added.
"Let's examine whether these accusations against finance ministry employees are true. With the best will in the world, I can't imagine it."
Asked whether he will remain chancellor in view of the investigations against him, Mr Kurz replied: "Yes, of course."
The Greens, Mr Kurz's junior coalition partners since he returned to power for a second term in early 2020, were far less relaxed.
Vice chancellor Werner Kogler, who also leads the Greens, tweeted that "the impression is disastrous" and the allegations must be cleared up thoroughly.
"The chancellor's ability to act is in question against this background," Mr Kogler added.
"We must ensure stability and order."
He said the Greens are proposing talks with all other parties in Austria's parliament to discuss how to proceed, and also plan a meeting with President Alexander Van der Bellen.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here