Extreme right party comes in first in Austrian elections

Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria celebrates with supporters, in Vienna, Austria, September 29, 2024, after polls closed in the country's national election. | AP

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Austria’s parliament building on Sunday as it was announced that the far-right Freedom Party (FP) had won the parliamentary election.

The FP, led by Herbert Kickl, secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria.

Protesters in Vienna waved placards with slogans including “Kickl is a Nazi.”

The FP finished ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine, and other issues.

But its chances of governing were unclear.

Preliminary official results showed the FP finishing first with 29.2 percent of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party (APP) was second with 26.5 percent.

The Social Democrats were in third place with 21 percent.

The outgoing government — a coalition of Mr Nehammer’s party and the Greens — lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.

But to become Austria’s new leader, Kickl would need to form a coalition. But rivals have said they won’t work with the far-right leader.

The FP has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The party has also stoked fears over migration.

In its election program, titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party called for “re-migration of uninvited foreigners,” for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.

Nehammer said it was “bitter” that his party missed out on first place, adding that he was still refusing to form a coalition with Kickl.

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Morning Star

Morning Star is the socialist daily newspaper published in Great Britain. Morning Star es el diario socialista publicado en Gran Bretaña.