Austria, the historic and faithful guardian power of Alto Adige-Suedtirol, a country linked by a historic friendship with Italy, has turned towards the far right.
The elections recorded a turnout of 78%, with approximately 6.3 million eligible voters going to the polls. The results of the consultations revealed a changing political landscape, with the Far-right party that established itself as the main winnerobtaining 28.8% of the votes. The People’s Party (OVP) of Chancellor Karl Nehammer, currently in government, reached only 26.3%, while the Austrian Socialist Party (SPO) stopped at 21.1%. The Neos Liberal Party obtained 9.2%, and the Greens, led by Werner Kogler, finished with 8.3%.
There is already talk of a possible coalition which must have a minimum of 92 seats. Possible matching with FPOe and OeVP for a total of 109 but also FPOe and SPOe with 97. The winner of the elections, Herbert Kickl, in his first reaction said he was satisfied with the best result in the history of the party.
Welcomed in the evening at the party headquarters with the cry “”Herbert, Herbert, Herbert”, the leader of the FPOe said, “it is a piece of history that we have written, Joerg Haider would be proud of us” and addressing the voters he stated, “I am deeply indebted to you”. Kickl had immediately stated, “the election result is a clear confirmation that things cannot continue like this in the country, we are ready to lead a government and ready for talks with all the parties”.
Herbert Kickl, 55, a Carinthian from Villach although he lives in Purkersdorf in Lower Austria, had remained in the shadows for a long time before attracting voters with his hard line against anti-Covid restrictions and opposition to support for Ukraine when invaded by Russia in 2022 in the name of Austria’s neutrality. Kickl, direct successor of Norbert Hofer but above all of Heinz-Christian Strache (the former vice chancellor protagonist of Ibizagate), in 2017 was Interior Minister of the government led by Sebastian Kurz.
Already during the election campaign he said that, if elected, he will be the ‘Volkskanzler’, the ‘people’s chancellor’, a German social democratic concept taken from Adolf Hitler. The general secretary of the OeVP, Christian Stocker is disappointed, «it is no secret that we wanted to get to first place» and the counterpart of the SPOe, Klaus Seltenheim commenting on the projections said, «it is a black day for democracy».