Austria’s Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN Associated Press

VIENNA (AP) — 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.

Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party was second with 26.5%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21%. 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.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the Peoples Party (OeVP) attends his final election rally in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

Women walk by posters of the Social Democratic, SPOe Party, showing Andreas Babler, in Vienna, Austria, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, ahead of the country’s national election which will take place on Sept. 29. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Head of the Freedom Party (FPOE) Herbert Kickl gestures during his speech at a final election campaign event at St. Stephen’s square in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, ahead of the country’s national election which will take place on Sept. 29. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the Peoples Party (OeVP) attends his final election rally in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, addresses supporters during thefinal rally of his electoral campaign, outside the St. Stephen Cathedral, in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, ahead of the country’s national election which will take place on Sept. 29. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the People’s Party attends his final election rally in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

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Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the Peoples Party (OeVP) attends his final election rally in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

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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 program, 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 defense project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some …read more

Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment