VIENNA (AP) — European far-right and nationalist parties are celebrating the hard-right Freedom Party’s win in Austria’s election. Even though it’s uncertain whether hard-line leader Herbert Kickl will be able to take his vision of a “Fortress Austria” into government, the party’s electoral success could nudge politics further in its direction.
Sunday’s result leaves Austria’s political future uncertain, as it’s questionable how stable the next administration will be — whoever forms it, probably after long negotiations.
The Euroskeptic and pro-Russian Freedom Party won a record 29.2% of the vote, gaining 13 percentage points from the 2019 election. Kickl told cheering supporters that “we wrote Austrian history today.” But Kickl needs a coalition partner to govern, and other parties say they won’t work with him.
Two mainstream parties that governed Austria for most of the time since the end of World War II were hit by voter anger about immigration and inflation and together have such a thin parliamentary majority that they would likely need a third partner to govern.