Predictions say Austria’s far-right Freedom Party is headed for an unprecedented general election victory under leader Herbert Kickl.
Projections, based on early results, give Kickl’s party 29.2% – almost three points higher than the conservative People’s Party on 26.3%, but far short of a majority.
The Freedom Party (FPÖ) had been in the coalition before, but the second-ranked conservative People’s Party refused to join the government he led.
Kickl’s main opponent, current Prime Minister Karl Nehammer of the People’s Party (ÖVP), has said that “it is impossible to form a government with a person who loves conspiracy theories.”
Some 6.3 million Austrians are eligible to vote in a race dominated by the twin issues of migration and refugees, as well as inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Freedom Party general secretary Michael Schnedlitz was delighted with the initial predictions, declaring that “today’s Austrian men and women have made history”. He declined to say what kind of coalition his party would try to build.
They are on track to win about 57 seats in the 183-seat parliament, with the conservatives on 51 and the Social Democrats on 40.
The fiery leader of the Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, promised the Austrians to build “Fortress Austria”, to restore their security, prosperity and peace.
He also talked about becoming Volkskanzler (people’s chancellor) which for some Austrians has echoes of the term used to describe Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Forming a coalition is likely to be complicated for Herbert Kickl, a divisive figure.
The Social Democrats, Greens and Neos all ruled out a partnership with the far right.
The only viable coalition Kickl’s party could form is with the conservatives, although the Liberals would have to find a solution to the People’s Party’s refusal to appoint Kickl as prime minister.
When Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party won the Dutch election last November, he abandoned his bid to become prime minister so that the other three parties agreed to form a coalition. However, Kickl was keen to become chancellor, promising the Austrians to act as their “servant and protector”.
Political analyst Thomas Hofer told the BBC that it was not clear that Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversaw the formation of the government, would give Kickl “direct authority to form a coalition”.
Van der Bellen has previously voiced reservations about the FPÖ because it is critical of the EU and has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The party opposes EU sanctions against Moscow on the grounds of Austria’s neutrality.
Kickl’s predicted victory is the only latest success for far-right parties in Europe.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni heads the right-wing coalition as leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and Germany’s AfD topped polls in the eastern state of Thuringia last month.
Unlike Kickl, the Italian Prime Minister has fully supported the EU’s defense of Ukraine against a full-scale Russian invasion.
Kickl has also exploited concerns about immigration in Austria and he is most angry at the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, by embracing conspiracy theories about obscure virus treatments.
