VIENNA: Election Sunday brought a political upheaval: the FPÖ came first in a national election for the first time. According to the latest projections by APA and ORF, the Freedom Party received a good 29 percent, leaving the ÖVP far behind, which received a good 26 percent. The SPÖ is facing its worst result in history with 20.5 percent. The Greens and Neos are almost on a par with 8.3 and 9 percent respectively. The small parties are clearly failing
Austria has voted. 6,346,059 People were called on Sunday to decide on a new National Council. A political landslide is emerging: according to a first Foresight projection for OF television, the FPÖ is clearly in first place.
Historically bad
The ruling ÖVP was brutally punished by the voters and has to accept double-digit losses. For the SPÖ, which had already achieved the worst result in the history of the Second Republic in 2019, things are going down even further under the new chairman Andreas Babler. However, the FPÖ is facing a historic success under Herbert Kickl, and is likely to grow by double digits compared to 2019.
A historic success for Kickl
The Liberals had achieved their previous record result in 1999 under Jörg Haider. At that time, the Blue had come to 26.9 percent of the vote, but remained second. After the EU election in May, the 2024 National Council election is now the second nationwide ballot that the FPÖ was able to win.
Kurz-Voters back to blue
The ÖVP, which until recently had hoped for a turnaround, has to accept a defeat. Under Former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, after the appearance of the Ibiza video and deselection in parliament, they had still come to 37.5 percent of the votes in the 2019 election. Many voters, whom he had addressed with his turquoise ÖVP at that time, have now returned to the blue ones.
The Greens were also not rewarded for their five years of government activity, fell by about five percent and slipped behind the Neos, who were able to improve delicately.
Remains with 5-party parliament.
Austria has moved to the right. With a lead of 28.9 percent in the National Council election, the right-wing populist FPÖ will be the strongest force according to the ORF projection. In second place are the currently ruling conservatives of the ÖVP, who received 26.3 votes. In third place is the social democratic SPÖ with 20.5 percent.
For the right-wing populists under their party leader Herbert Kickl, victory in the National Council election would be their greatest triumph to date. The ÖVP had hoped to overtake the FPÖ on the home stretch until the very end. Chancellor Nehammer tried to position himself as a responsible alternative to Kickl.
Despite the victory, it will probably be very difficult for Kickl to become the next chancellor. All parties have so far refused to work with the 55-year-old. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen does not necessarily have to give the task of forming a government to the party with the most votes.
The FPÖ's significant gains are in line with the right-wing trend across Europe. Right-wing parties have gained popularity across Europe, such as Geert Wilders and his radical right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands, the Italian right-wing party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) led by Giorgia Meloni and the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National (RN) with Marine Le Pen in France. In Germany, the AfD achieved major successes in the state elections in the eastern German states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.
FPÖ victory would be biggest triumph to date
For the right-wing populists under their party leader Herbert Kickl, victory in the national elections would be their greatest triumph to date. The ÖVP had hoped until the very end to overtake the FPÖ on the home straight. Chancellor Nehammer tried to position himself as a responsible alternative to Kickl.
In its election manifesto, the FPÖ had campaigned for an extremely restrictive migration policy under the slogan "Fortress Austria - Fortress Freedom". The party calls for migrants to be returned to their home countries and wants "homogeneity" in society as an alternative to the diversity often sought internationally. In terms of foreign policy, the FPÖ is extremely critical of the EU. Despite the war in Ukraine, it takes a rather benevolent stance towards Russia and sees no problem with Austria's dependence on Russian gas.
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