The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives.
But the party’s chances of governing remain unclear.
Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote with Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party second with 26.5%, according to a near-complete count reported by national public broadcaster ORF.
The centre-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21% as 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 would not work with Mr 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, entitled Fortress Austria, the Freedom Party called for the “remigration of uninvited foreigners” to achieve 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.
Mr 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,” Mr Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF.
“The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,” he added, arguing that they should “sleep on the result”.
Mr 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 would not form a coalition with Mr Kickl and reiterated: “What I said before the election, I also say after the election.”
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% it scored in 1999.
In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2% 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 of Mr Kickl.
Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far right and labelled Mr Kickl “a threat to democracy.”
While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Mr Nehammer’s People’s Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8%.
During the election campaign, Mr 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.
The People’s Party is the far right’s only way into government and now holds the key to forming any administration.
Mr Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Mr Kickl, describing him as a “security risk” for the country but did not rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself — which would imply Mr 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% 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 will not change the outcome substantial
