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Associated Press

The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other issues. But its chances of governing were unclear.
Preliminary official results on Sunday 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 centre-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 long-time 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 far-right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.
In its election programme, titled “Fortress Austria”, the Freedom Party calls for “remigration of uninvited foreigners”, for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defence project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticised “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.
“We don’t need to change our position, because we have always said that we’re ready to lead a government, we’re ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people,” Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF public television. “The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,” he added, arguing that they should “sleep on the result”.
Nehammer said it was “bitter” that his party missed out on first place, but noted he brought it back from lower poll ratings. He has often said he won’t form a coalition with Kickl and said that “what I said before the election, I also say after the election.”

More than 6.3 million people were eligible to vote for the new parliament in Austria, an EU member that has a policy of military neutrality.
Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austria’s last parliamentary election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party dominates the Netherlands’ new government, congratulated the Freedom Party on social network X Sunday. So did Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party.
The Freedom Party is a long-established force but Sunday’s result was its best yet in a national parliamentary election, beating the 26.9 per cent it scored in 1999.
In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2 per cent after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favours to a purported Russian investor.
The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austria’s post-World War II governments, positioned himself as the polar opposite to Kickl. Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far-right and labelled Kickl “a threat to democracy”.

While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Nehammer’s People’s Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8 per cent.
During the election campaign, Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as “the strong centre” that would guarantee stability amid multiple crises.
But crises ranging from the Covid-19 pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting rising energy prices and inflation also cost it support. The government also angered many Austrians in 2022 with a short-lived coronavirus vaccine mandate, the first in Europe.
But the recent flooding caused by Storm Boris that hit Austria and other countries may have helped Nehammer slightly narrow the gap as a crisis manager.
The People’s Party is the far-right’s only way into government, and now holds the key to forming any administration.
Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Kickl, describing him as a “security risk” for the country, but didn’t rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself – which would imply Kickl renouncing a position in government. But that looks very unlikely with the Freedom Party in first place.
The alternative would be an alliance between the People’s Party and the Social Democrats – with or without the liberal Neos, who took 9 per cent of the vote.
A final official result will be published later in the week after a small number of remaining postal ballots have been counted, but those won’t change the outcome substantially.
About 300 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Vienna Sunday evening, holding placards with slogans including “Kickl is a Nazi”.


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Austria

Head of Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, as projections show that the party won the general election. Photo: Reuters

Herbert Kickl wants to be chancellor. Photo: AP

Anti right-wing protesters hold an banner that reads ‘Don’t let Nazis rule and never let them march’, in front of the parliament building, in Vienna, Austria. Photo: AP

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Photo: AP

Death toll rises as Storm Boris lashes central and eastern Europe

A view of the overflowing of the Staric River on Sunday following heavy rain that hit the village of Lipova-Lazne in the Czech Republic. Floods have been battering central and eastern Europe since Friday, with at least four dead in Romania, one dead in Poland and four missing in the Czech Republic. Photo: EPA-EFE

A resident waits to be evacuated from his flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic on Sunday. Photo: AP

Firefighters help a resident during floods in the Czech Republic on Sunday. Photo: AP

This aerial photograph taken on Sunday shows a view of the flooded city centre in Glucholazy, southern Poland. Photo: AFP

Parts of the Czech Republic are seeing major flooding following intense rainfall. Other parts of Europe are also being affected, with several deaths. Photo: EPA-EFE

Evacuees stand on the back of a lorry following floods caused by heavy rainfalls in Visnova, Czech Republic on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

A road destroyed by floods near Boeheimkirchen, Austria, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Germany dodges a historic second far-right win in a state election

Brandenburg’s State Premier Dietmar Woidke gets a kiss from his wife Susanne after the publication of the exit polls on Sunday. Photo: AFP

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in New York for a UN summit, called the results ‘good, of course’. Photo: dpa

Police guard a protest against the far-right German party ‘Alternative for Germany’ in Potsdam, Germany. Photo: AP

France’s new government sets sights on right-wing migration policy

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) shakes hands with then-European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, now Prime Minister of France. Photo: AP

Marine Le Pen, president of France’s far-right political party Front National (National Front). Photo: AFP

French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, Photo: AFP

Thomas Chambon, coordinator of humanitarian association Utopia 56 in Grande-Synthe prepares coffee before leaving on a humanitarian roaming service in Steene, northern France, on September 21, 2024. Photo: AFP

UK’s Keir Starmer warns that far-right offers ‘snake oil’ of easy answers

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Photo: BBC via Reuters

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in an interview with the BBC. Photo: Photo: BBC via AFP

A portrait of Margaret Thatcher. File photo: Reuters

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Austria far-right scores historic win, but party could struggle to find partners with whom they can govern


Austria far-right scores historic win, but party could struggle to find partners with whom they can govern.
