Austria's far-right Freedom Party has a realistic chance to lead the next government this weekend after talks between the three mainstream parties broke down.
A breakthrough for the Freedom Party would see the party's firebrand leader Herbert Kickle become prime minister, marking a new high-water mark in the rise of the far-right in Europe.
Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen is expected to give Kickle, who won the most seats in the National Assembly in September's general election, the task of forming a coalition government during talks on Monday. The talks could ultimately be the first formal step toward forming a new government.
Kikl, whose party was founded in the 1950s by former members of the Nazi paramilitary SS, campaigned on a strong anti-immigration platform. The party has a history of vilifying Austrian immigrants as criminals and welfare sponges.
He called for a moratorium on new asylum seekers and a law banning asylum seekers from becoming Austrian citizens. Mr. Kickl has promised to turn Austria into a fortress, and the party introduces him before his campaign speech with the term “Volkskanzer,” a reference to the rise of fascism in Germany.
A senior official of the conservative Austrian People's Party, known by its Austrian initials ÖVP, announced on Sunday that it was willing to enter into coalition talks with the Freedom Party, despite the ÖVP's campaign promise not to form a coalition with the party. As long as Mr. Kickl was running it.
Austria's ÖVP Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced on Saturday that he is resigning from both the chancellorship and the party leadership.
This development has alarmed observers of Austrian politics.
Peter Filzmeier, a political scientist at the universities of Graz and Krems, said: “The image we currently present to the world is, of course, not only a shift to the right, but also instability. Some would even call it chaos.” Ta.
29% of Austrians voted for the Freedom Party. The ÖVP, which has led Austria's government since 2017, won 26%. Until this weekend, it looked like the Liberal Party would be removed from government after all other parties refused to join it in a coalition.
Christian Stocker, who was suddenly appointed as ÖVP leader on Sunday to replace Mr. Nehammer, said in a statement to the media that he expected President Van der Bellen to ask Mr. Kikl to start coalition talks. Ta. Stocker also said, “If I am invited to a meeting, I will accept the invitation.''
It could take weeks or even months for a government led by Mr. Kickle to take office. It would become Europe's first openly far-right government, reflecting a growing trend toward the far right among voters dissatisfied with immigration and economic turmoil.
In France, for example, the far-right party National Rally won nearly a third of the votes in the European Union parliamentary elections last year. In late 2023, Dutch voters handed Geert Wilders' far-right anti-Muslim Freedom Party a landslide victory. They cast their votes in the ballot box, and a new government will be formed in four months.
The Liberal Party currently sits in five state governments and was a junior partner in the central government's coalition with the ÖVP until it was ousted in a sordid scandal involving a video of a fake Russian heir and party leader.
Prior to that, Mr Kickl served as Home Secretary, with particular responsibility for security and immigration.
Political analysts in Vienna say coalition talks between the Liberal Party and the ÖVP may go more smoothly now that talks between conservatives and progressives are over, and the two parties have much in common. he pointed out.
Laurenz Enser-Jedenastic, a political scientist at the University of Vienna, said the ÖVP's pledge last summer not to cooperate with the Freedom Party was related to its strategy to remain the largest party in the ruling coalition and retain its premiership. He said there is.
“All barriers are now being rapidly broken down, which shows how superficial this strategy of exclusion has been,” he said.
