The weekend was not good for the Austrian political establishment. After months of unsuccessful efforts, coalition negotiations between the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) finally failed. Such humiliation led Austrian Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer to announce his resignation from both positions. Even more striking is the news that Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has given the green light to the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, to try to form the new ruling coalition.
This confirms what many have known for some time: traditional parties have failed in their attempt to exclude the populist right from power. That they handled things so poorly is surprising because for many decades Austrian politics was a clientelist duopoly between the ÖVP and SPÖ. Both parties are well versed in the art of sharing the spoils of power.
However, it helps explain why Austria has become one of the first European countries to feel the impact of contemporary populism. In 1986, the charismatic Jörg Haider became leader of the marginal Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), moving it sharply to the right on an anti-immigration platform.
