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Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II

Austria Election
September 29, 2024

VIENNA (AP) โ€” The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria on Sunday, finishing 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 Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammerโ€™s Austrian Peopleโ€™s Party was second with 26.5%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21%. The outgoing government โ€” a coalition of Nehammer's party and the environmentalist Greens โ€” lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.

Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor.

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

But to become Austriaโ€™s new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority. Rivals have said they wonโ€™t work with Kickl in government.

The far right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.

In its election program, titled โ€œFortress Austria,โ€ the Freedom Party calls for โ€œremigration of uninvited foreigners,โ€ for achieving a more โ€œhomogeneousโ€ nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticized โ€œelitesโ€ in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

โ€œWe don't need to change our position, because we have always said that we're ready to lead a government, we're ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people,โ€ Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF public television. โ€œThe other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,โ€ he added, arguing that they should โ€œsleep on the result.โ€

Nehammer said it was โ€œbitterโ€ that his party missed out on first place, but noted he brought it back from lower poll ratings. He has often said he won't form a coalition with Kickl and said that "what I said before the election, I also say after the election.โ€

More than 6.3 million people were eligible to vote for the new parliament in Austria, an EU member that has a policy of military neutrality.

Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austriaโ€™s last parliamentary election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party dominates the Netherlands' new government, congratulated the Freedom Party on social network X Sunday. So did Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party.

The Freedom Party is a long-established force but Sunday's result was its best yet in a national parliamentary election, beating the 26.9% it scored in 1999.

In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austriaโ€™s post-World War II governments, positioned himself as the polar opposite to Kickl. Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far right and labeled Kickl โ€œa threat to democracy.โ€

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Nehammerโ€™s Peopleโ€™s Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8%.

During the election campaign, Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as โ€œthe strong centerโ€ that would guarantee stability amid multiple crises.

But crises ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russiaโ€™s invasion of Ukraine and resulting rising energy prices and inflation also cost it support. The government also angered many Austrians in 2022 with a short-lived coronavirus vaccine mandate, the first in Europe.

But the recent flooding caused by Storm Boris that hit Austria and other countries may have helped Nehammer slightly narrow the gap as a crisis manager.

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

The Peopleโ€™s Party is the far rightโ€™s only way into government, and now holds the key to forming any administration.

Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Kickl, describing him as a โ€œsecurity riskโ€ for the country, but didn't rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself โ€” which would imply Kickl renouncing a position in government. But that looks very unlikely with the Freedom Party in first place.

The alternative would be an alliance between the Peopleโ€™s Party and the Social Democrats โ€” with or without the liberal Neos, who took 9% of the vote.

A final official result will be published later in the week after a small number of remaining postal ballots have been counted, but those wonโ€™t change the outcome substantially.

Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II
Austria Election

About 300 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Vienna Sunday evening, holding placards with slogans including โ€œKickl is a Nazi.โ€

___

Associated Press writers Philipp Jenne, Pietro De Cristofaro and David Keyton in Vienna and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

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