Austria far right scores historic win in national vote

VIENNA

Herbert Kickl (C), leader and top candidate of right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) addresses supporters at the party's election event after exit poll numbers were announced at the Stiegl-Ambulanz restaurant in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 29, 2024, during Austria's general election.

Austria's far right topped national elections on Sunday, marking a historic victory, but the party is expected to struggle to find partners with whom they can govern.

While the Freedom Party (FPOe) has served in coalition governments before, this is the first time it has won a national vote, as far-right parties across Europe have made gains.

All other parties however have so far rejected forming a coalition with the FPOe's sharp-tongued leader Herbert Kickl.

"We have written a piece of history together today...," 55-year-old Kickl told cheering party supporters in Vienna. "We have opened a door to a new era."

The FPOe won 28.8 percent of votes, beating the ruling conservative People's Party (OeVP) into second place on 26.3 percent, according to near-complete results.

Like other far-right parties elsewhere in Europe, the FPOe has seen its popularity surge, fed by voter anger over migration, inflation and Covid restrictions.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she was "delighted" with the FPOe victory. She hailed what she called a "groundswell that carries the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties".

  'Exciting time' 

Kickl, who took over the scandal-tainted party in 2021 and led its recovery, said he was ready to form a government with "each and every one" of the parties in parliament.

"Our hand is outstretched in all directions," he said.

Among FPOe supporters, the atmosphere was festive, as supporters wearing traditional Austrian dress downed glasses of beer.

"It's a real success... It will be a very, very exciting time" with the FPOe trying to form a government, said Erik Berglund, 35, a waiter. He hailed Kickl as the "most competent leader".

Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who managed to close the gap to the FPOe in recent weeks in opinion polls, said at his party headquarters that he could see the disappointment of party members.

"It was a race to catch-up, and unfortunately we didn't manage it," said 51-year-old Nehammer, vowing to "continue to fight for the people's interests".

The OeVP's support has plunged from more than 37 percent in the last national election in 2019.

The Greens with whom they governed in an unprecedented coalition were also punished, falling to 8.3 percent from almost 14 percent in 2019.

More than 6.3 million of Austria's nine million inhabitants were eligible to vote.

Nehammer reiterated his refusal to work with Kickl, who has called himself the future "Volkskanzler", the people's chancellor, as Adolf Hitler was termed in the 1930s.

Kickl regularly attacks EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

He also espouses the far-right concept of "remigration": expelling people of non-European ethnic backgrounds deemed to have failed to integrate.

  'Earthquake' 

The FPOe had been widely predicted to narrowly top the vote, but Sunday's results for the party formed by former Nazis were even better than expected.

"This is certainly an earthquake and sends a shockwave through all the other parties," political analyst Thomas Hofer told AFP.

Analysts predict Nehammer could nevertheless remain chancellor by forming a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPOe) and possibly another party, probably the liberal NEOS.

The SPOe reached 21.1 percent, similar to their record low 2019 results, while NEOS have 9.2 percent.

A three-party coalition would be a first, but analysts say it would have a hard time given the right-wing shift in the country.

A coalition between the far right and the conservatives — in power since 1987 — still remains a possibility, say analysts, given their common platform against immigration and on other issues.

Long a political force in Austria, the FPOe's first government with the conservatives in 2000 set off widespread protests and sanctions from Brussels.

"The FPOe mainly stirs up fears and never has anything constructive to contribute," researcher Theres Friesacher, 29, told AFP after voting in Vienna, citing the corruption scandals that have engulfed the party in the past.

Both previous OeVP-FPOe governments were short-lived.

The last one collapsed over a spectacular FPOe corruption scandal in 2019 after just a year and a half in power.