Even just last week it was Western Europe’s most popular and successful right-populist coalition. But on Saturday the Austrian government led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (Austrian People’s Party, ÖVP) and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (Freedom Party, FPÖ), imploded as snippets of a secret 2017 video surfaced.

The recording shows Strache and a friend relaxing in a luxurious Ibiza villa with a woman they believed to be a wealthy Russian heiress. In an entrapment sting, she promised she could use her purchase of Austria’s biggest tabloid to make the paper a campaigning tool for the FPÖ. Strache accepted the plan — suggesting he could provide her lucrative government contracts in return.

The affair has moved forward at breakneck speed, with Strache forced to step down, Kurz forcing the resignation of FPÖ Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, and snap elections now unavoidable. Ines Schwerdtner and Steve Hudson spoke with Benjamin Opratko, editor of the Austrian magazine Mosaik, to better understand what exactly is going on in the country, and what the government’s collapse could mean for the future of Austrian politics. The text below is adapted from an interview conducted for halbzehn.fm.