Initial results in Austria’s election today display a similar pattern to various elections in Europe recently—e.g., Germany, France and the Netherlands—as the mainline political parties get their faces slapped. The Freedom Party (FPÖ), which both rejects the escalation against Russia and also draws support from those concerned over massive displacement of populations, won its first-ever general election victory. Present results have the FPÖ with 28.8%, the ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) of Chancellor Karl Nehammer with 26.3% and the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) with 21.1%. FPÖ’s leader Herbert Kickl stated: “We’ve made Austrian history because it’s the first time the Freedom Party is Number 1 in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far we’ve come.”
The FPÖ program seeks to end Austria’s funding of the EU’s weapons pool for Ukraine. It states: “We stand for an active policy of peace and neutrality.” Further, it calls for Austria to resume purchasing Russian gas. The FPÖ’s Kickl had recently joined with the Fidesz Party of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in forming the “Patriots for Europe” grouping in the European Parliament.
