Far right wins first Austrian vote with chancellor job uncertain

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party handed the nation’s two legacy parties a bitter defeat with its first ever federal victory — yet one that may still not grant its leader the top job.

The Freedom Party is set to win 29.1% of votes, according to a projection by state broadcaster ORF based on about a third of ballots counted. Incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s People’s Party is estimated to have received 26.2% with the Social Democrats at 20.4%. Polls had predicted such an outcome.

As leader of the largest party after the vote, Freedom Party chief Herbert Kickl would traditionally be asked to start talks to find partners to run the government, but his ambition to lead Austria will face the reality of coalition arithmetic. The fact that he’s considered a toxic presence by most competitors doesn’t help.

Kickl, 55, has pledged to deport asylum seekers and stop supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. Nehammer has vowed not to make him chancellor in a coalition government.

Kickl, in turn, has promised not to hand the People’s Party the top job if he beats them, saying a similar move in 1999 by his predecessor and mentor, Jörg Haider, had been a mistake.

“With a victory, we will clear the way to the chancellery and take destiny in our own hands with a leader who works for the people and not against them,” Kickl told a rally of supporters in Vienna Friday.

The Freedom Party’s victory is part of a broader trend across Europe, which has seen far-right groups win across the region.

A centrist government involving the conservatives and the Social Democrats — a mainstay of post-World War II politics in Austria for decades — would probably need backing from a smaller, third party, such as the liberal NEOS or the Greens. Finding common ground for a coalition program will be an arduous task, even in a nation used to consensual rule between its two historical parties. Still, the wish to keep the Freedom Party out of government could propel such a alliance.

Austrian coalition negotiations have traditionally taken months, not weeks, so the talks could stretch into next year. Nehammer’s existing team will continue to govern in the meantime.

The likely coalition wrangling comes at a difficult time for Austria, which is set for a second year of economic contraction and is only now recovering from a bout of high inflation that often surpassed its euro-area peers.

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(With assistance from Kristian Siedenburg.)

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