Brigitte Bierlein, Austria’s first woman chancellor, dies at 74

BERLIN (AP) — Brigitte Bierlein, the former head of Austria’s Constitutional Court who became the country’s first female chancellor in an interim government in 2019, has died. She was 74. Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Monday that she will remain a shining example of self-determination, equal rights and breaking through glass ceilings. Austria’s Constitutional Court said she passed away after a short, serious illness. Bierlein was named interim leader after then-chancellor Sebastian Kurz lost a confidence vote following the collapse of the governing coalition of his right-wing People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party. She led Austria to the new election in the fall of 2019.