Can far right form government in Austria after election win?

The far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has won national elections in Austria after a closely fought campaign. But whether it can form a government depends on convincing its conservative rivals to join with it.

FPÖ had been consistently leading in the polls after winning the most seats in the European elections early this year. That was until devastating floods in September – which killed at least five people – handed incumbent conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) chancellor, Karl Nehammer, a chance to act the statesman.

But it wasn’t enough to pull voters away from FPÖ, which came top in this weekend’s national election for the first time.

If it can form a government, the far right promises to tighten the screws on immigration (its election campaign was “Fortress Austria”) and improve the economy. The party is against further EU sanctions on Russia and favours the pro-Russian approach of Viktor Orban in neighbouring Hungary.

It will be up to the former Green centrist, President Alexander Van der Bellen, to decide whether to give FPÖ a mandate to try to form a government. So far, the president has told all parties to talk to each other.

The far right has been in government in Austria twice before with the conservatives – both times as the junior partner – before dramatically falling from grace five years ago. But now it is back and stronger than ever.

The conservative ÖVP has not ruled out going in with FPÖ, but ahead of the election, said it would not work under a premiership of the far right’s leader, Herbert Kickl.

Kickl styles himself as a ‘Volkskanzler’ (people’s chancellor), a phrase with echoes of Hitler, a connotation he denies.

Across Europe, the far right continues to make advances in many countries, topping national elections in the Netherlands and in recent regional elections in eastern Germany.

Far-right populists, Alternative for Germany (AfD), came first in state elections in Thuringia and Saxony. In Brandenburg, AfD was pushed into second place after the centre-left government hammered a tougher anti-immigration line.

In Austria, the conservatives could instead choose to form a grand coalition of the middle ground with the Social Democrats, who came in third place. Such a ‘cordon sanitaire’ is seen as less likely, not least because FPÖ and ÖVP share many hard-right policies, and would together hold a majority in parliament.