In Austria, the far right is marching towards power

Until five days ago, Herbert Kickl was a pariah within the Austrian political system. He was the man with whom the traditional parties refused to discuss, and even more so to ally with. In the space of a weekend, the situation turned around and the leader of the far-right FPÖ party, winner of the legislative elections of September 29, went from the status of undesirable to that of guarantor of stability democracy of the country.

It was the President of the Republic himself, Alexander Van der Bellen, who formalized this rehabilitation process on Monday by entrusting the identity leader with carrying out consultations with a view to forming a new government majority. The previous attempt, which brought together the conservatives, the social democrats and the liberals, failed on Friday after three months of negotiations. If he carries out his task successfully, Herbert Kickl could become the first far-right chancellor in the country’s history since the fall…