Parties plan post-election talks as Austria begins 'alarming new chapter'

Austria's main parties are preparing for tense wrangling to form a government amid warnings about the country's democracy, after the far right's victory in a general election in which angry voters punished centrist incumbents over migration and inflation.

- Deborah Cole

On Sunday, the anti-Islam, Kremlin-friendly Freedom party (FPÖ) won just over 29% of the vote, its strongest result since its founding after the second world war by former Nazi functionaries and SS officers. The outcome surpassed expectations and beat 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%.

Exit polls showed that the 13-point gain for the FPÖ since the last parliamentary election in 2019 was due to strong support among younger voters. Amid deep frustration with the cost of living and angst about immigration, the hard right clearly won among Austrians under 34, with 27% of that demographic, and even more decisively with the 35-to-59 set, on 37%. The FPÖ also profited from festering resentment over Austria's strict measures during the Covid pandemic.

The FPÖ, which cites Hungary's Viktor Orbán as a model, placed third with over-60s, on 22%. They gave their support to the ÖVP party of the chancellor, Karl Nehammer, with 38%, and the SPÖ, on 24%.