Sunday witnessed the reformulation of Austria’s political field as the victorious far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) set their sights on Hofburg in Vienna come Monday. Following the general election, the FPÖ emerged top with an all-time high record of 29.2 per cent. It was a late night affair at the previous royal abode, where the mandate to initiate coalition discussions would be officially announced by Alexander Van der Bellen, the Austrian president. A successful dialogue, as per FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, would find them at the helm with the chancellery under his charge.
Kickl lacks likely coalition partners and faces a formidable opponent in Van der Bellen. In his post-election speech, Van der Bellen stressed on the preservation of Austria’s democratic principles by the forthcoming government. Despite holding a politically impartial and ceremonial role, he has had public disagreements with Kickl in the past. As he expressed, the next steps entail discussions, negotiations, and the identification of favourable solutions and viable compromises.
An assembly of demonstrators around the previous royal residence took up the mantle of voicing their objections against Kickl on Sunday. Their banners and chants expressed their stand against the nazi-ideals and the FPÖ leader.
His late night address to enthused supporters prompted Kickl to remember two crucial individuals. First was his populist guide Jörg Haider, who achieved a former record of 26 per cent in 1999 but perished in a car accident nearly a decade later. Klick suggested Haider would have been proud of their historical victory. Then, indirectly criticizing Van der Bellen, Kickl emphasized that their party stood at the society’s centre rather than representing extremist right-wing ideologies.
There is disagreement over Sunday’s election’s implications, whether it busted the centre of Austria’s political configuration or relocated it further towards the right. However, it’s clear that the landscape is now steered by two parties that have mostly divided power between them in Austria’s postwar politics: the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP) of centre-left and centre-right leanings respectively. Sunday saw the People’s Party finish second, losing a significant amount of support and thereby ruling out a coalition with the Greens.
The revealing study of voter change on Monday clearly demonstrated the extent of FPÖ’s triumph: over 400,000 of its 1.4 million votes were garnered from former ÖVP supporters, disgruntled by a sluggish economy and inflation, and from erstwhile non-participants. FPÖ’s pledge of a “Fortress Austria,” committing to sealing borders and drastically reducing asylum, resonated the most with its citizenry, backed by a superior command of social media.
The Foresight/ISA investigation exposed FPÖ’s sweeping success across all electorates up to age 59, including those with less formal education, along with voters in both rural and urban locales save for larger cities.
Nevertheless, despite a campaign highly centred around Kickl, a mere two per cent disclosed, in the ISA survey, that the FPÖ leader was their incentive to vote for the party.
This could sculpt coalition negotiations either to entirely omit FPÖ or to include the party in governance with ÖVP, albeit sans its leader.
On Sunday, Karl Nehammer, the outgoing chancellor and ÖVP leader, reiterated his party’s reticence to collaborate with Kickl following an earlier troubled tenure in governance.
On Monday, FPÖ leaders turned down such a conception but acknowledged that “various scenarios” could arise in subsequent post-election coalition discussions.
FPÖ veteran, Andreas Mölzer, argued, “It’s bizarre that the leader of the victorious party in the election is asked to step down, as called for by leaders of the defeated parties. A loss of 12 per cent of your backing, as experienced by Nehammer, is hardly a voting endorsement.”