Austria's Main Parties Begin Wrangling to Form Government Amid Democracy Warnings

Austria's main parties are preparing to begin tense wrangling to form a government amid warnings about the country's democracy after the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) scored its strongest result since its founding after World War II in a general election.

On Sunday, the anti-Islam, Kremlin-friendly FPÖ scored just over 29% of the vote, surpassing expectations and beating the ruling centre-right People's Party (ÖVP) by nearly three percentage points. The centre-left opposition Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) turned in its worst-ever performance with 21%, while the Greens, junior partners in government, sank to 8%.

The FPÖ's strong support among younger voters, particularly those under 34, contributed to its 13-point gain since the last parliamentary election in 2019. The party profited from festering resentment over Austria's strict measures during the Covid pandemic and its calls for a "Fortress Austria" against migration.

Austria has often faced criticism about its tepid culture of historical remembrance of the Nazi period. In the wake of the election results, the International Auschwitz Committee denounced an "alarming new chapter" in Austria, urging the country's democrats to stand up to historical amnesia and the ideology of old and new rightwing extremists.

Despite its resounding win, the FPÖ will face an uphill battle to form a government, as it failed to secure an absolute majority. All smaller parties have ruled out any cooperation with the hard right, and the ÖVP has called a government led by FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl a dealbreaker.

Kickl, who has a history of deploying Nazi rhetoric in his speeches, has urged the ÖVP to "sleep on the results for a few nights" before sticking to a firm ultimatum. A few hundred leftist protesters rallied outside the parliament building in Vienna's historic centre late on Sunday to urge the democratic parties to stand firm against the FPÖ.

President Alexander Van der Bellen urged the political class to preserve "the pillars of our liberal democracy." The thinly veiled encouragement to unite in isolating the FPÖ could result in Karl Nehammer, with his second-place ÖVP, cobbling together an alliance with the Social Democrats and the Greens or the liberal Neos.

However, Vedran Džihić, a senior researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, warned that such a move would bolster the FPÖ's rhetoric around "parties of the system" and "coalition of losers." He said the alternative, with the far right in power, would be far worse, "endangering democracy and the rule of law."

Austrian parties to begin talks on forming government after far-right win

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