Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) scored a historic victory on Sunday evening after exit polls indicated its first-ever national election win following a campaign dominated by immigration and cost-of-living concerns.
After months leading opinion polls, the FPÖ's promise of a “Fortress Austria” attracted a record 28.9 per cent of the vote, according to first projections, to secure an estimated 57 seats in the new parliament.
The 13-point surge in support came largely at the expense of the outgoing ruling centre-right People’s Party (ÖVP). It took 26.3 per cent in exit polls, down 11 percentage points, to secure 52 seats, 19 fewer than in the previous parliament.
If final results reflect early exit polls, the FPÖ may struggle to form a ruling coalition led by its controversial leader Herbert Kickl.
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With his radical law-and-order policies and rhetoric, Mr Kickl was dubbed a “danger for Austria” by the ÖVP and its leader, Karl Nehammer.
On Sunday evening FPÖ general secretary Christian Hafenecker “ruled out absolutely” an FPÖ-led government without Mr Kickl.
“It was Kickl who most people voted for,” he said, a nod to a highly personalised campaign built around the leader. “The outgoing government drove the country off a cliff, it is Kickl who has secured a mandate to govern.”
Two likely governments emerged on Sunday evening: a FPÖ-led coalition with the ÖVP, with or without Mr Kickl; or a coalition of the ÖVP and Social Democrats (SPÖ), supported by the liberal Neos or Greens, who each secured 17 seats according to exit polls.
The centre-left SPÖ finished third for the first time, with 21 per cent, retaining 40 seats in parliament.
In the campaign, the FPÖ promised to tighten migration rules, cut welfare payments to asylum seekers and introduce measures to boost the recession-hit economy and curb inflation, slightly above EU average at 2.4 per cent in August
This focus chimed with voter concerns in a post-election survey for public broadcaster ORF. The cost of living was the most frequent issue mentioned by voters (43 per cent) followed by migration (39 per cent) and the cost of healthcare (37 per cent). A third of respondents each said their vote was motivated by a wish to “preserve democracy” and war-security concerns.
Frustration with the outgoing ÖVP-led government was clear in the poll, with just 13 per cent happy with its overall record. Austria’s mainstream parties expressed shock at the scale of the FPÖ result – and difficult weeks of horse-trading loom.
ÖVP general secretary Christian Stocker called the result “a rendezvous with reality after difficult years in office”.
For Eva-Maria Holzleitner, SPÖ general secretary, the FPÖ victory marked “a black day for democracy as we consider the FPÖ extremely dangerous with the rule of law and for the welfare state”.
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