dpa
Vienna
The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has won Austria’s parliamentary election with 29.2% of the vote, according to preliminary official results announced by the Interior Ministry.
It is the first time since the end of World War II that a far-right party has won a parliamentary election in Austria.
The conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) of the outgoing coalition government was pushed into second place with 26.5% of the vote.
The ÖVP lost 11% compared to the 2019 election, while the FPÖ gained 13 percentage points after being booted from government in a 2019 corruption scandal.
The Social Democrats (SPÖ) secured the third highest number of votes with 21.1% (down 0.1 points), according to the preliminary results.
The liberal NEOS party received 9% of the vote, an increase of 0.9%.
The Greens, who were previously in government with the conservatives, received only 8% of the vote, a decrease of 5.9%.
The preliminary result includes the majority of postal votes. The remaining absentee ballots are expected to be counted by Thursday.
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl saw the election outcome as one that will usher in a change for Austria. “Voters put their foot down today,” Kickl said, reading the projected win for his party as a “clear statement that things cannot go on like this in this country.”
Far-right chancellor unlikely However no other Austrian party is currently willing to form a government with the current FPÖ. The conservative party of incumbent Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer quickly renewed its pledge not to work with the far-right under Kickl.
“We are extending a hand in all directions,” said Kickl, whose EU-sceptical and pro-Russian party seeks to establish an “Austrian fortress” of anti-migrant policy.
However Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen does not necessarily have to give the task of forming a government to the party with the most votes, and the former Green Party leader has repeatedly criticized the FPÖ’s political positions on the EU, migration and the war in Ukraine.
It is therefore likely that current chancellor Nehammer will be given the task of forging a governing coalition. The alternative to the FPÖ is the SPÖ. However, an alliance is considered difficult because SPÖ leader Andreas Babler has moved the Social Democrats far to the left with demands such as a 32-hour working week.
Whether Babler will be able to stay in office in view of the result is one of the questions that will now arise.
