On Sunday, September 29, the citizens of Austria will go to the polling stations to vote in the lower house of parliament elections, in which, if the predictions of voter polls come true, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) could win for the first time in post-war history, reports Reuters. True, polls also show that the FPO, which has grown in popularity based on voters’ concerns about immigration, inflation and the war in Ukraine, will not get an absolute majority in the parliament, so it will have to look for a partner to form a government coalition in any case, writes Associated Press.
On the other hand Politico notes that a victory for Austria’s Freedom Party could expand the Vladimir Putin-friendly political bloc in Central Europe, which already includes Hungary and Slovakia.
The leader of the FPO since 2021 – former Minister of the Interior Herberts Kikl – has declared that he wants to become the head of the next government. He uses the word himself People’s Chancellor (people’s chancellor), as Adolf Hitler was called during the Nazi era. However, H. Kikl rejected this comparison, saying that such a term was also used in later times.
Poll leaders
Politico collected Austrian voter survey data show that 27% of respondents expressed support for the FPO. The Austrian People’s Party (OVP) of the current chancellor, Karl Nähammer, was supported by 25%, and the centre-left Social Democrats – by 21%.
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2024-09-27 11:32:22