The far right is placed at the head of the legislative elections in Austria this Sunday, September 29, according to projections published at the close of voting by public television ORF, based on the counting of part of the postal votes and the ballots counted in offices closed early. With 29.1% of the vote, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) of Herbert Kickl came ahead of the conservatives (ÖVP) led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, given 26.2%. After the resounding Ibizagate scandal and the debacle of five years ago, the far right is making a comeback: these first projections correspond to a jump of thirteen points, compared to the previous election in 2019.
In a context of the rise of extremist parties in Europe, this formation founded by former Nazis is still placed higher than what the polls had predicted. “I have a good feeling. The atmosphere is positive and I believe that we will transform the test into the ballot boxes,” FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl said earlier after voting in Purkersdorf, near Vienna. Close to certain small groups criticized, the one who wants, in the native country of Adolf Hitler, to be called like him “People’s Chancellor” (people’s chancellor), took up the term of «remigration»with the plan to strip their nationality and expel Austrians of foreign origin.
No alliance in sight
This first place for the far right represents an earthquake in the Alpine country. If the party has already tasted power, it has never before finished at the top of a national election. Herbert Kickl, however, is not guaranteed access to the chancellorship. Given his extremism, no other party a priori wishes to govern with him. This former Minister of the Interior, aged 55, also knew how to attract anti-vaxxers with his conspiratorial remarks against anti-Covid measures, the most deprived affected by inflation and all those sensitive to Austrian neutrality by condemning the sanctions against Russia.
Opposite, Chancellor Nehammer, leader of the conservatives, played the card of a party “at the center” of the political spectrum, despite very clear positions on immigration. Despite a drop of more than ten points compared to 2019, the ÖVP, in power since 1987, should unless there is a surprise retain the chancellery, but the negotiations will be long to find partners. If Karl Nehammer repeats that he does not want to ally with Herbert Kickl, he does not reject a possible coalition with the “blues” of the FPÖ, as in 2000 and 2017. Among the 6.3 million voters, many are counting on this scenario.
But if the FPÖ’s large victory is confirmed, the conservatives will not agree to be the minority partner, experts predict. They will undoubtedly prefer to associate with “red” social democrats (20.4%) and the liberals of Neos – a three-way format would be a first in Austria. With the Greens, in sharp decline (8.6%), there are many areas of contention and the divorce seems complete.
Source: www.liberation.fr
