Far right on track to win the most votes in Austria poll for first time since Nazi era

The far-right won the most votes in an Austrian election for the first time since the Nazi era, early projections showed yesterday, as the Freedom party (FPÖ) rode a tide of public anger over migration and the cost of living to beat the centre-right People's party (ÖVP) by three percentage points.

- Deborah Cole

Preliminary results indicated that the pro-Kremlin, anti-Islam FPÖ had surpassed expectations to take about 29% of the vote, comfortably ahead of the ruling ÖVP of the chancellor, Karl Nehammer, on just over 26%.

The opposition Social Democratic party scored its worst ever result20.6% while the liberal NEOS won about 9%. Despite devastating flooding this month from Storm Boris bringing the climate crisis to the fore, the Greens, junior partners in the government coalition, tallied just below 9% in a dismal fifth place.

The Communist party and the apolitical Beer party looked unlikely to clear the 4% hurdle to representation. Turnout was high at about 78%.

Profiting from a rightwing surge in many parts of Europe and taking Hungary's Viktor Orbán as a model, the FPÖ capitalised on fears around migration, asylum and crime heightened by the August cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna over an alleged Islamist terror plot.

Mounting inflation, tepid economic growth and lingering resentment over strict government measures during Covid led to a 13-point leap in support for the FPÖ since the last election, in 2019.

Its polarising lead candidate, Herbert Kickl, who campaigned using the "people's chancellor" moniker once used to describe the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, immediately staked a claim to power on the back of his party's decisive win.