The right-wing radical party FPÖ of Herbert Kickl has won the parliamentary elections in Austria. According to exit polls, the party would get just under 30 percent. The governing party ÖVP loses heavily and becomes the second party. Nevertheless, governing seems unlikely for the FPÖ.
Austria
Source: Austrian interior ministry provisional result
According to the exit polls and the first results, the conservative ÖVP of ruling chancellor Karl Nehammer loses more than 11 percentage points and ends at 26.3 percent. The FPÖ gets 29.1 percent, which would be the best score ever of the party in Austria.
The third party is the social democratic SPÖ with 20.4 percent. The Greens, coalition partner of the ÖVP, would lose heavily and still get 8.6 percent, the liberals of NEOS 8.8 percent. The other parties would not reach the electoral threshold of 4 percent. An outcome that could be the harbinger of difficult government negotiations. FPÖ leader Kickl, who will probably now take the initiative, had already indicated before the elections that he would like to lead the government, but that threatens to be a bridge too far for the conservatives of ÖVP.
The decision now lies with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, who is responsible for appointing the chancellor and assigning a politician to form a government. While it is customary for the president to grant the mandate to the leader of the winning party, this practice is not legally required.
“I will ensure that the foundations of our liberal democracy are respected when forming a government: the rule of law, separation of powers, human and minority rights, independent media, and EU membership,” President Van der Bellen said on X.
The president had previously declared that he would refuse to swear in anyone who “tries to promote an anti-European party or a party that does not condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
The FPÖ wants to reduce the number of asylum seekers to zero and exclude refugees already in Austria from social services, including health care, except for the most essential. The party also promises mass, forced remigration of asylum seekers.
The FPÖ also plans to abolish government subsidies for the media and wants to set up a hotline where people can report ‘politicizing’ teachers.
“What the party wants,” Austrian political commentator Hans Rauscher said earlier this week, “is an authoritarian democracy along the lines of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, where democratic institutions such as the courts and the media are steadily sidelined, where elections are held but the same party always wins.”
