He now faces the task of trying to free the coalition government from the taint of months of political turmoil and scandal and of creating conditions conducive to lifting the country's coronavirus lockdown.
Nehammer, 49, from the ruling conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), was formerly the country's interior minister.
The Vienna-born Nehammer worked in the army for several years. He then started working as a communications adviser before becoming a politician in 2017.
He was made interior minister in January 2020. While he was in office, Austria experienced its first Islamist terrorist attack, in which four people were killed last November.
More about:
