Politics Election in Austria: Right-wing FPÖ with a chance of victory
The right-wing FPÖ wants to replace the conservative ÖVP chancellor's party as the party with the most votes in the Austrian parliamentary elections.
29.09.2024, 05:11
SDA
The FPÖ has been in first place in the polls for a long time. The right-wing populist party leader Herbert Kickl is backing a more restrictive migration policy under the slogan "Fortress Austria" as well as criticism of sanctions against Russia.
However, Chancellor Karl Nehammer and his party have recently caught up according to the polls and are now only just behind the FPÖ with 27% at 25%. The floods of the past few days gave Nehammer the opportunity to present himself as the country's top crisis manager.
FPÖ wins European elections
According to the pollsters, the social democratic SPÖ can only expect around 21% of the vote. The Greens, who have been in government with the ÖVP for the past five years, were last forecast at around nine percent, roughly on a par with the liberal Neos. Almost 6.4 million citizens are called to vote.
In June, the FPÖ won the European elections in Austria. Now the right-wing populists could become the strongest force in the Austrian National Council, the large chamber of parliament, for the first time. But what happens afterwards is largely unclear.
Although the FPÖ and ÖVP have not ruled out working together, Nehammer has made it a condition that Kickl would not be involved in such a coalition in any way. Nehammer sees Kickl as a "security risk" and conspiracy theorist, not least because of his coronavirus vaccination skepticism. The alternative is a cooperation between the ÖVP and SPÖ, possibly in a constellation with the Neos.
Uproar over song with SS past
Apart from the ÖVP, all other parties have completely ruled out cooperation with the FPÖ, partly because of the lack of differentiation between right-wing populists and right-wing extremists. On the day before the election, the newspaper "Der Standard" published footage of a funeral where FPÖ politicians can be seen as mourners and a song can be heard that was glorified by the SS as the "Treuelied". The video caused uproar and criticism from all parties.
The expected gains for the FPÖ would be in line with the trend. Right-wing parties have gained popularity across Europe, such as Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands, the Italian Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) with Giorgia Meloni at the helm or the Rassemblement National (RN) with Marine Le Pen in France. In Germany, the AfD recently achieved success in the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.
