Chair of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) Herbert Kickl hailed a “new era” after preliminary election results showed the FPÖ became the first far-right party to win the country’s parliamentary elections since World War II.
While the FPÖ’s victory points to a trend across Europe, voters are leaning toward anti-immigration, populist parties. However, the party is unlikely to form a coalition government, as required by Austrian law. This is because all other parties have ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with the FPÖ, except for the outgoing conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer. According to the results, the FPÖ received 28.8% of the votes, and the ÖVP came second with 26.3%.
