Austria goes back to the future as voters embrace far-right party founded by Nazis

GRAZ, Austria — Austria veered to the right in a watershed election on Sunday as the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) stormed to victory, marking the first time since World War II that a party rooted in Nazi ideology prevailed in a national ballot.

The anti-migrant, Russia-friendly FPÖ won more than 29 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results, putting it about three points ahead of the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), which currently leads the government. The ÖVP suffered a record loss to finish with 26 percent.

“The results today couldn’t have been clearer,” Herbert Kickl, the FPÖ’s leader and chief ideologue, told Austrian public television, insisting that his party should lead the next government.

The Social Democratic Party finished third, recording its worst result in its history with 21 percent. Two smaller parties — the liberal NEOS and the Greens — both garnered about 9 percent of the vote.

Austria’s far-right swing is another worrying sign for Europe, signaling that a recent surge in populist forces shows no sign of abating. FPÖ leaders regard Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has systematically dismantled democratic freedoms in his country, as a model and have promised to follow his lead.  

If the FPÖ succeeds in building a coaliton, the European Union would be faced with a Euroskeptic populist bloc encompassing Austria, Hungary and Slovakia and possibly the Czech Republic after an election there next year.

The FPÖ, founded in the 1950s by former members of the SS and other Nazi veterans, ran on an anti-foreigner campaign this election, vowing to erect a “Fortress Austria” to keep out migrants.

Kickl promised voters that if they handed him the win, he would serve as their Volkskanzler, or “people’s chancellor,” a moniker once used by Adolf Hitler.

Austria’s constitution and complicated coalition math make it unlikely Kickl will become chancellor, but the FPÖ’s strong showing means it has a fair chance of building an alliance with the center right if it fields a different candidate for the top job.

The ÖVP’s leadership has ruled out collaborating with Kickl, but has signaled it would consider a coalition with the FPÖ if he weren’t part of the government.

Another option might be to build an alliance with the Social Democrats in two-way coalition, though it wasn’t clear from the preliminary results whether the parties would have enough seats to do so. Many observers believe a three-way coalition between the ÖVP, Social Democrats and the liberal NEOS is more likely.

The FPÖ’s win echoes numerous strong showings for far-right parties across Europe over the past two years as establishment parties have struggled to manage a massive influx in asylum-seekers and other migrants.

Earlier this month, Germany’s anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party recorded strong gains in regional elections. That follows last year’s victory by Geert Wilders, the Dutch right-wing firebrand, in a national election in the Netherlands and Italian neo-fascist Giorgia Meloni’s rise to power in Italy.  

This story is being updated.