What does far-right election victory mean for Austria?

The far-right has won the most votes in an Austrian election for the first time since the Nazi era, as the pro-Kremlin, anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPÖ) beat the ruling centre-right People's Party (ÖVP).

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl told supporters in Vienna that it was a "piece of history that we have written together today". The party, founded by former Nazis just a decade after the end of the Second World War, won 29.2% of the votes. ÖVP came second with 26.5%.

The Social Democratic Party finished with 21%, the worst result in its history, while the ÖVP's junior coalition partner, the Greens, suffered a big drop in support, coming fifth with 8.3%.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Turnout was high, with nearly 80% of eligible Austrians voting. "The results today couldn't have been clearer," said Kickl, who has insisted that his party should lead the next government.

What did the commentators say?

By "profiting from a rightwing surge in many parts of Europe and taking Hungary's Viktor Orbán as a model", the FPÖ has successfully "capitalised on fears around migration, asylum and crime", said The Guardian. These fears were "heightened by the August cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna over an alleged Islamist terror plot".

But the party had seen a "huge leap in support since the last election in 2019, a result of "mounting inflation, tepid economic growth and lingering resentment over strict government measures during Covid".

The results represent a "remarkable comeback" for the FPÖ, which was "humiliated" five years ago, during its coalition with the ÖVP. Heinz-Christian Strache, vice-chancellor and chairman of the FPÖ at the time, was caught on camera pledging government contracts to a woman pretending to be the niece of a Russian oligarch. The so-called "Ibiza-gate" scandal led to Strache's resignation and the collapse of the coalition.

Although the party "downplays its Nazi past and seeks to portray itself as an anti-establishment alternative to the mainstream centre right and left", it "regularly uses antisemitic fascist tropes to stir its base" said Politico. The FPÖ ran on an overtly "anti-foreigner platform" in this election, vowing to "erect a 'Fortress Austria' to keep out migrants". Kickl also promised voters that should his party win, he would serve as their Volkskanzler – "people's chancellor" – the same term once used by Adolf Hitler.

And a reminder of "the depth of the party's affinity for a Third Reich aesthetic" was provided this weekend at the funeral of a long-serving FPÖ politician, "where mourners sent off their comrade by singing an SS anthem". Such "excesses" will make it difficult for the FPÖ to build a coalition, "but not impossible", said Politico.

The FPÖ's success echoes far-right gains in countries like Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. But unlike parties such as Germany's AfD, which was "formed in reaction to Eurozone policies in 2013", the FPÖ has "deep roots" in Austrian politics, and has "held power at a federal level three times, in coalition with other groupings, making it one of just a few far-right parties in Europe to have done so", said CNN.

What next? 

The FPÖ fell short of an outright majority, meaning it will need coalition partners to govern. While most centrist parties have ruled out working with the far right, the ÖVP hasn’t dismissed the possibility, "as it has twice in the past in taboo-breaking alliances at the national level", said The Guardian.

However, Chancellor Karl Nehammer has made it clear that Kickl becoming chancellor is a "non-starter". This sets up "a potential showdown in which the FPÖ would have to either jettison Kickl or take a backseat in government to win the ÖVP’s support".