Herbert Kickl, Head of Freedom Party (FPOe), delighted after projections showed that his party won the election
Austrian voters handed a first-ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, preliminary results showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels.
The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in a campaign dominated by immigration and worries about the economy.
Led by the 55-year-old Herbert Kickl, the FPO won 28.8% of the vote, ahead of the OVP on 26.3%, and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPO) on 21.1%, according to a projection based on nearly all the vote by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF, a slightly bigger victory margin than final polls had indicated.
“We’ve made Austrian history because it’s the first time the Freedom Party is Number 1 in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far we’ve come,” Kickl said after the party’s record showing, which came seven decades after its foundation in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker.
An overview of political parties’ immigration policies
FREEDOM PARTY (FPO)
The FPO says in its manifesto it wants migrants who have entered Austria illegally to be removed and very strict criteria enforced on legal immigration.
This includes:
- Taking no asylum applications on the grounds that any asylum seeker who comes to Austria has crossed a safe country, with “pushbacks” used at the border
- Making asylum temporary, with refugees losing the right to be in Austria once their countries of origin are deemed safe
- Preventing asylum from becoming a pathway to eventual Austrian citizenship
- Making “thorough checks” on the citizenship of naturalised Austrians
- Rejecting the European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum – which aims to secure the bloc’s borders and divide up migrants among members – in order to pressure the EU to toughen up its borders
AUSTRIAN PEOPLE’S PARTY
The OVP says the EU’s borders must be secured against illegal immigration.
“Unskilled migration and imported criminality are a massive problem in our society”, its manifesto says.
It calls for:
- Deportations to asylum seekers’ homelands to stop them choosing in which country to settle
- Centres outside the EU deciding asylum applications, saying the EU’s Migration and Asylum pact will help to achieve this
- Using valuables from any asylum seekers who come to Austria to help cover the costs of their integration and upkeep
- Conditioning migrants’ entitlement to full social benefits on at least five years’ regular residence in Austria, or less for those who integrate quicker
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS (SPO)
The leftist SPO wants:
- A “fair distribution” of asylum seekers across EU member states, which it says would reduce asylum applications in Austria by 75%
- EU centres for processing asylum applications to be set up outside the bloc
- In cases where asylum has been denied but their country of origin will not take them back, asylum seekers should be sent to a “secure third country”
- More done to integrate asylum seekers from the moment they arrive, including German lessons from day one
NEW AUSTRIA (NEOS)
A self-styled centrist and pro-European party, the NEOS call for:
- Providing safe and legal routes for refugees to reach Austria
- Securing the EU’s borders, implementing the Migration and Asylum pact and introducing a common asylum procedure across EU states
- Conditioning foreign aid on the recipient states signing agreements that allow unsuccessful asylum seekers to be returned
- Making it possible for Austrians to have dual citizenship
THE GREENS
In coalition with the OVP since 2020, the leftwing Greens say the Austrian economy and social security systems need migrants, and argue the following:
- Letting asylum seekers stay if they integrate and work in sectors with labour shortages
- Unsuccessful asylum seekers and refugees who commit serious crimes should be expelled from Austria as long as this does not violate their human rights
- Borders should be secure and legal routes should be established for refugees into Austria
- The party will fight to make the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum guarantee protection for all who need it
Austria’s rightward shift heralds tougher immigration rules L8N3L71SI
The party has worked to moderate its image and broaden its appeal, but Kickl remains a provocative and polarising figure, roundly disliked by the other party leaders, who immediately united in rejecting the notion of forming a coalition with him.
If Kickl cannot persuade another party to ally with him, it could end the FPO’s hopes of forming a government and open the door to a coalition of more moderate parties.
Only the OVP has offered any indication it could work with the FPO, but it has ruled out doing so with Kickl, who has given no hint he could step aside to let someone else take charge.
Seat projections suggested the OVP and SPO, which ruled Austria for decades together, could just muster a majority without a third party, which had long looked unlikely.
Kickl’s win was hailed by hard-right parties across Europe, where the far-right has made gains in countries including the Netherlands, France and Germany. That growing support could stoke the risk of divisions inside the European Union over key policy areas like the defence of Ukraine against Russia.
Analysts said irrespective of whether Kickl captured the chancellery, Austria was now in uncharted territory.
“This is, of course, a big moment,” said political analyst Thomas Hofer. “This is a turning point in the Second Republic,” he added, referring to the postwar history of Austria.
Kathrin Stainer-Haemmerle, a political science professor at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, said if Kickl did manage to become chancellor, Austria’s role in the European Union would be “significantly different.”
“Kickl has often said that (Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban is a role model for him and he will stand by him.”
Kickl, who this year forged an alliance with Orban, opposes providing aid to Ukraine and wants sanctions against Russia withdrawn, arguing they hurt Austria more than Moscow.
‘FORTRESS AUSTRIA’
On Sunday, Kickl said he was ready to talk with all parties over forming a coalition, and President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, urged parties to find common ground in negotiations in the coming weeks.
Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader, has voiced reservations about the FPO because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Late on Sunday, a few dozen anti-FPO protesters assembled outside the party’s election celebrations, one holding a placard reading “Kickl is a Nazi” as police kept them at bay.
The Islam-critical FPO wants to stop granting asylum altogether and build a “fortress Austria” preventing migrants from entering.
“Some of these people are given everything they want and need, and they take advantage of it,” said Marcel Sztrelko, a 44-year-old warehouse worker, who voted FPO because of what he said was Austria’s failure to integrate refugees.
The party faced fresh controversy about its past at the weekend, when a video published by newspaper Der Standard showed members of the party attending a funeral where a song popular with the Nazi SS was sung.
A Jewish student group in Vienna filed a complaint against FPO members accusing them of breaching anti-Nazi laws.
