Austrian Elections Mark Big Win for the Far-Right in Europe
Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria waves to supporters after election victory Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Photo: AP News
On Sept. 29, the Austrian Parliamentary elections saw the first far-right victory since World War II. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which was founded by former Nazis in 1956, won 29.2% of the vote but Austria’s other major parties are refusing to form a coalition with them — making the future of the government unclear.
FPO’s policy stances and rhetoric have been criticized as racist, anti-semetic, anti-Muslim, and Xenophobic. The Party is against sanctions on Russia, is Eurosceptic (critical of the European Union), and runs on a vision of “Fortress Austria,” which entails sealing Austrian borders to migration and Asylum seekers.
The FPO is led by Herbert Kickl, who describes himself as a “Volkskanzler,” a word meaning chancellor of the people that was used by the Nazi party to describe Adolf Hitler. The FPO’s search for coalition partners is not made any easier by Kickl’s provocative history in the Austrian government. The former interior minister’s controversial record includes spreading misinformation such as claiming Ivermectin should be used to treat COVID-19, and calling Alexander Van der Bellen, the Austrian president, a “mummy.”
Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the Austrian People’s Party, which came second in the election with 26.5% of the vote, called Kickl a “security risk,” and said he would refuse to join a coalition with him, though he didn’t rule out a coalition with the freedom party itself. With Kickl unlikely to step down, forming a coalition will be a long and complicated process.
The FPO’s electoral victory represents growing nationalist sentiment in Austria in response to strains from immigration and high inflation. Since 2022, the Austrian economy has been in recession, at least in part due to the EU’s efforts to phase out Russian gas, which Austria is dependent on. As of July, 83% of Austria’s imported gas still came from Russia, while the proportion of total EU gas imports from Russia was down to 15%. The FPO appealed to voters who have faced financial struggles with their Austria-first rhetoric and served as the ‘protest-vote’ option for disillusioned voters.
Donald Trump and Viktor Orban meet in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019. Photo: AP News
If the FPO manages to form a coalition, it would join the Eurosceptic governments in Slovakia and Hungary in working against sanctions on Russia and support for Ukraine. This victory, along with the record results of far right parties in the EU parliamentary elections, such as the National Rally in France, signal an erosion of liberal values across Europe. This trend extends to the US as well, as the anti-immigrant and anti-wokeness sentiment of these right-wing parties is highly comparable to that of Donald Trump during his three presidential campaigns. Trump also notably has close ties with Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and has praised his far-right leadership.
Though small, Austria has an influential position due to its neutrality — not allied with Russia, but also one of only four members of the EU that not in NATO. Even if the FPO fails to form a coalition, the victory could be considered symbolic of a tilt in the geopolitical balance.
With the FPO garnering less than 30% of the vote, not all Austrians welcome this rightward shift. On the night of the election, around 300 protesters gathered outside the Vienna Parliament building holding signs with slogans including, “Kickl is a Nazi.” On Thursday thousands more marched in Vienna, urging other political parties to not form a coalition with the FPO. This growing political unrest will help to define Austria’s position in an increasingly right-wing Europe.