A far-right party founded by former Nazis won the most votes in Austria’s election Sunday, in a result that could reshape Europe’s political landscape and help tilt the balance of power between Russia and the West.
The pro-Russia, anti-immigration Freedom Party, or FPÖ, finished first with 29.2% of the vote, according to near-complete results.
It appears to have knocked the ruling conservative Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP), or Austrian People’s Party, into second place, with 26.5% of the vote. The Social Democratic Party of Austria finished third, scoring its worst ever result with 21%.
Austria joins a long list of countries across Europe where the far-right now wields considerable power after making gains this summer in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The FPÖ’s victory — its first ever — is the latest sign that a movement characterized by anti-immigrant and anti-Islam sentiment has made a breakthrough in the continent.
“We have written a piece of history together today,” said FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, a man branded the “Volkskanzler” or “people’s chancellor,” by his party, a term most associated with the Nazis who used it to describe Adolf Hitler.
“We have opened a door to a new era,” he told cheering supporters in Vienna.
The win represents a stunning reversal of fortunes for the party, which crashed out of government in 2019 after a corruption scandal. But it has fallen far short of an absolute majority in the tight election and will need help to form a stable government.
Building a coalition is likely to be difficult, however, since all other major groups have ruled out working with the FPÖ and Kickl.
Current chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer called Sunday’s result “bitter,” but repeated a previous assertion that a coalition scenario with Kick as chancellor was a non-starter.
As in other elections across Europe this summer that have seen the political extremes outperform their moderate counterparts, Austria may therefore face a period of political uncertainty as parties wrangle to take charge.
But even if the party fails to form a coalition government, the result will serve as a symbolic victory for the far right.
The FPÖ was founded in the 1950s by former members of Hitler’s paramilitary group the SS, although Kickl and his supporters reject the modern-day comparison.
Like other far-right leaders, he has capitalized on high inflation as well as Europe’s migration crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of people have fled war, poverty and natural disasters in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
Kickl has proposed a dramatic overhaul of Austria’s migration system, including the introduction of “remigration” of “unwanted strangers” — deporting migrants to their country of origin.
The party also has strong links with Russian President Vladimir Putin — the European Union’s archnemesis. The FPÖ has called not just for an end to Europe’s support for Ukraine, but also for an end to the sanctions placed on Russia over its war.
The party’s ideas and policies are not unfamiliar to Austria’s 10 million people, and it has found itself close to the helm of Austrian politics in recent years. The FPÖ was the junior partner in a coalition government with ÖVP between 2017 and 2019, a relationship that collapsed in scandal and conflict.
But while the FPÖ has always been the subordinate in coalitions, it now holds the cards and could entice others into helping it form a government.
The ÖVP is the only party that has been open to allying with the far-right party in the past, and it remains to be seen whether it will accept the role of sidekick this time around, especially with Kickl in charge.
Alternatively, the FPÖ could jettison their leader to satisfy Nehammer and lead a coalition, or agree to take a backseat in government as they did in 2017, in exchange ÖVP’s support.
For centuries, Austria has enjoyed outsize influence as a crossroads at the heart of Europe. Its neutral status, neither officially allied with NATO nor Russia, means it has long served as an arena for politicians, diplomats and spies trying to tilt the geopolitical balance.
But that role is now at risk as the birthplace of Hitler reckons with a potential new government that is anything but neutral.
Freddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.
Alexander Smith and Carlo Angerer contributed.
Related News :