Austria SPÖ: The entire FPÖ is shaking the foundations of democracy

The Social Democratic top candidate Andreas Babler is positioning himself clearly against the right-wing FPÖ ahead of the Austrian parliamentary elections on Sunday. "We are the firewall against everything that endangers this democratic republic," the SPÖ leader told supporters in Vienna at the end of the election campaign. The entire FPÖ, not just its chairman Herbert Kickl, is shaking the foundations of democracy.

No general suspicion will be allowed against people who are the third or fourth generation to live in Austria, "who have built up this prosperity side by side with us", said Babler, strategically positioned in the working-class district of Favoriten in Vienna. The FPÖ and its candidate Kickl had celebrated the conclusion of their election campaign the previous day in front of a much larger crowd in Vienna's city center.

On Sunday, almost 6.4 million citizens in Austria are called to vote for a new parliament. The polls show the SPÖ at around 20.6%, down on its record low from 2019, when it achieved 21.2% of the vote. The pollsters put the FPÖ at 27% and the ÖVP at 25%. The Greens, previously the ÖVP's coalition partner, can therefore expect around nine percent of the vote, as can the liberal Neos party.

Andreas "Andi" Babler is the mayor of a small town in the south of Vienna. He came to the top of the party around a year ago in a competitive vote. Within the SPÖ, he is considered by some to be too left-wing. If the Social Democrats achieve a poor election result, his future at the top of the party could be in doubt.