However, it is still unclear if it will get a chance to govern the country
Herbert Kickl (centre), leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, addresses supporters at an election event in Vienna, on Sunday. Pic/AFP
The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria on Sunday, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other issues. But its chances of governing were unclear.
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Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2 per cent of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party was second with 26.5 per cent. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21 per cent. The outgoing government—a coalition of Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens—lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.
Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor. But to become Austria’s new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority. Rivals have said they won’t work with Kickl in government. The Freedom Party calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, and is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine.
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