Austria’s hard-right Freedom Party secured a historic victory in national elections on Sunday, in what is being seen as just the latest landmark moment in the rising tide of populism in Europe.
Herbert Kickl, the party’s leader, has helped to bring the FPOe from the fringes into the political mainstream over recent years, focusing his campaign on an anti-immigration message which appears to have resonated with voters.
In its election manifesto, Fortress Austria, the FPOe promoted the controversial policy of ‘remigration’, calling for the forced return of ‘uninvited foreigners’ to their home countries and vowing to achieve a more ‘homogenous’ nation.
Kickl’s success, as with many of his allies across Europe, could also be down to his softer stance on Russia and attacks on the establishment in Austria and the EU more widely over freedom of movement and funding of the war in Ukraine.
The seismic victory has been welcomed by fellow populist figures across the continent, who have hailed it as a success for their shared ideologies amid a ‘tidal wave’ of gains for nationalist forces.
Herbert Kickl (C) celebrates with supporters during an FPOe election event after parliamentary elections in Vienna, Austria, 29 September 2024
‘There has been a shift to the right almost all over Europe, and Austria is no exception,’ political analyst Thomas Hofer told MailOnline in the wake of the results.
In line with the upsurge of right-wing parties elsewhere in Europe, the long-running FPOe has seen its popularity build in recent years to the point where it has become a key electoral force.
This year saw France’s Rassemblement National (RN) top the polls in the European parliament elections, before achieving its highest ever tally in the snap ballot for the National Assembly in July.
Marine Le Pen, an MP and figurehead in the party, today congratulated her Austrian ally in the European parliament, saying her party was ‘delighted’ with their win.
‘After the Italian, Dutch and French elections, this groundswell which carries the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties, confirms everywhere the triumph of the peoples,’ she said.
The FPOe ‘will become a role model for Le Pen and others who also want to win elections and claim leadership in their respective countries,’ said Paul Schmid, secretary general of the Austrian Society for European Politics, a think tank.
And the stronger the European far-right alliance gets, the more it ‘will be able to influence priorities on a European level, including on migration, climate and Ukraine,’ he said.
Schmid characterized the Freedom Party as more radical than parties such as Le Pen’s RN.
He predicted that mainstream parties in Austria and beyond will borrow topics from the far right even more, which could lead to a further ‘shift in the public discourse.’
Earlier this month, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) celebrated their own ‘historic success’, with the party winning almost a third of the vote in the eastern state of Thuringia.
Alice Weidel at the AfD press conference on the results of the 2024 European elections in the House of the Federal Press Conference in Berlin
People protest against the rising cost of living in a demonstration organized by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) political part
Its co-leader Alice Weidel congratulated Kickl on his victory, saying that it reflected voters’ feeling that the ‘winners’ should govern rather than a coalition of the ‘losers’, as she claimed had also happened in Thuringia.
And last year, right-wing leader Geert Wilders triumphed in the 2023 Dutch general election to see his far-right PVV party become the largest in the House of Representatives.
He has also celebrated his political ally’s win, suggesting it is part of a wider movement in a post on X.
‘The Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, France, Spain, Czech Republic and today Austria! We are winning! Times are changing!
‘Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for!’
Wilders, who is the leader of Flemish far-right party Vlaams Belang, has long stood on an anti-immigration, anti-Islam ticket.
He has described Islam as Europe’s ‘Trojan horse’ and said he wants to stop all migration from Muslim countries.
He struggled to gain support from potential coalition partners and dropped his bid to become prime minister in March, but has continued to hold on to his audience through his hardline position on immigration.
Marine Le Pen, an MP and figurehead in the party, today congratulated her Austrian ally in the European parliament, saying her party was ‘delighted’ with their win
The FPOe is part of a right-wing populist alliance in the European Parliament, Patriots for Europe. Its members welcomed the Austrian result as building on gains in other countries, including in European elections in June.
Among them was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for whom Kickl has expressed support in the past.
He congratulated the FPOe leader on his ‘historic victory’ and labelled it ‘another win for Patriots.’
Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš wrote in his congratulatory message: ‘Viktor Orbán was right to point out that the Patriots for Europe are getting stronger day by day.’
An ally of the FPOe, Babiš’ ANO party is hoping to continue the upward trend for nationalism in his own country next year, hoping to exploit the chaos among Prague’s governing coalition.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (centre), for whom Kickl has expressed support in the past, congratulated the FPOe leader on his ‘historic victory’
The leader of Italy’s Lega party, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, said the Austrian election result marked ‘a historic day in the name of change.’
‘To those who speak of the ‘far right,’ we remind you that in Vienna the only extreme thing is the desire for change that puts the values of work, family and security back at the center,’ Salvini added.
Salvini’s Lega is a junior partner in a coalition with right-wing Giorgia Meloni prime minister and her nationalist Brothers of Italy party, which has consolidated its victory
While its fascist roots have often led to it being labelled ‘far-Right’, Brothers of Italy is now more of a centre-Right party with a strong stance against illegal migration.
As its Italian neighbours did two years ago, FPOe and its supporters have celebrated their unprecedented first victory in a national poll.
However, with rival parties vowing to join forces to keep them out of power, there is still some way to go.
‘I am a mountain climber, but the bag that I have been given is not light,’ the avid sportsman told cheering crowds.
Political analyst Peter Filzmaier told the New York Times: ‘It is the best result in the history of the Freedom Party and the first time it gets first place in a national council election.
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders pictured during a meeting of Flemish far-right party Vlaams Belang, in Aalst
‘However, without government participation, this is merely of great symbolic value.’
Securing nearly 30 per cent of the vote in the elections was no mean feet for Kickl, who managed to successfully tap into rising anger over migration, inflation and Covid restrictions.
Since he took charge of the party in 2021, it has risen in the polls to about 27 percent – sharply up from 18 percent three years ago.
He was previously a behind-the-scenes operator in the party, which has its roots in Nazism, helping to repackage it in the 1990s with catchy slogans and get it into government in Vienna in 2000.
His victory marks the first time a hard-right party has won a parliamentary vote in Austria since the fall of the Third Reich.
The centre-left Social Democrats were in third place on 21 per cent of the vote, as the outgoing government, a coalition of Mr Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens, lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.
Austria’s far right has ‘written a piece of history’ by coming first in Sunday’s national vote for the first time ever, its party leader said.
‘We have written a piece of history together today… We have opened a door to a new era… What we have achieved exceeds my wildest dreams,’ Mr Kickl told cheering party supporters in Vienna.
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose conservatives came second in the elections, labelled the result ‘bitter’, while defence minister, Klaudia Tanner, admitted situation was a ‘wake-up call’ for the governing parties.
Nehammer has already said he would not form a coalition government with Kickl, labelling him a ‘right-wing extremist’.
He once again ruled out a coalition with Mr Kickl, adding ‘what I said before the election, I also say after the election.’
Kickl said that he was ready to form a government with ‘each and every one’ of the parties in parliament. ‘Our hand is outstretched in all directions.’
But other party leaders have also rejected him, with the left-wing Social Democratic Party telling him during a TV debate last week: ‘I think you are extremely dangerous.’
Anti right-wing protesters in Vienna hold placards reading ‘Don’t let Nazis rule and never let them march’
Protesters took to the streets in Vienna on Sunday night to voice their dissatisfaction at the result, with some holding placards reading ‘don’t let Nazis rule’.
Austrian political expert Hofer said that while Kickl is unlikely to become Chancellor, his party’s move into the political mainstream will likely have ‘wider implications in Europe’.
‘It is certainly a major development,’ he said. ‘The FPOe is number one in Austria for the first time.
‘It doesn’t mean Kickl will make it to the Chancellery – though there is still a chance of them getting into a coalition.
‘Instead they will try to foster their position as an anti-establishment party. There is a big chance to influence issues like migration, even if they don’t make it into government, from the opposition.’
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