Right-wing Austrian party with problematic past wins elections continuing string of right-wing European election victories

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) won the largest number of votes in Sunday’s elections, taking almost 30% of the votes and surpassing the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), which received around 26.5%. 

ÖVP, a conservative Christian-Democratic party, has ruled in a coalition with the Green Party since 2020. However, both parties saw a significant decline in the elections, with the ÖVP falling from 37.5% to 26.5%, and the Greens from 13.9% to 8%. 

While the Freedom Party won the most votes, it still faces the enormous challenge of forming a coalition government. Several other Austrian parties have indicated that they would not cooperate with FPÖ due to some of its policy stances. 

FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl acknowledged the challenge in statements made after the victory announcement.

“Tomorrow there will be a blue Monday (referring to the party’s choice of blue as its official color), and then we will set about turning that 29% into a political reality in this country,” Kickl said to a group of supporters. 

FPÖ’s win echoed recent wins for other right and far-right parties in European elections, including the Netherlands, France and Germany. However, as the elections in France and Holland have shown, some right-wing parties have faced difficulty turning election wins into governing coalitions. 

The FPÖ party was originally established in 1956, roughly a decade after the end of World War II. Jörg Haider, who became the leader of the party in 1986, and was a controversial political figure in Austria, helped turn the party in a more right-wing populist direction. 

Haider’s parents had belonged to the Nazi party in Austria, and several countries imposed sanctions against his party due to his political views and activities.

However, in recent years, the party has attempted to rehabilitate its image. Under the leadership of Heinz-Christian Strache in 2010, the FPÖ began to support Israel, and later that year, several of its leaders visited Israel. During their visit, the leaders issued the “Jerusalem Declaration” to officially affirm the right of the State of Israel to exist and defend itself against Islamic terror. 

The party continues to be controversial, however. At the recent funeral of a former member, Walter Sucher, attendees reportedly sang a Nazi SS song. Kickl himself has downplayed the group's Nazi links. In 2010, he reportedly refused to make a blanket condemnation of Waffen-SS members. 

Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported that the Jewish Austrian Student Union announced a decision to file charges against the FPÖ party members in attendance at the funeral, calling it an “alarm signal for Austria.”