By Francois Murphy and Dave Graham
VIENNA (Reuters) -Austrian voters handed a first-ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, preliminary results showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels.
The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in a campaign dominated by immigration and worries about the economy.
Led by the 55-year-old Herbert Kickl, the FPO won 28.8% of the vote, ahead of the OVP on 26.3%, and the centre-left Social Democrats on 21.1%, according to a projection based on nearly all the vote by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF, a slightly bigger victory margin than final polls had indicated.
“We’ve made Austrian history because it’s the first time the Freedom Party is Number 1 in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far we’ve come,” Kickl said after the party’s record showing, which came seven decades after its foundation in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker.
The party has worked to moderate its image and broaden its appeal, but Kickl remains a provocative and polarising figure, roundly disliked by the other party leaders, who immediately united in rejecting the notion of forming a coalition with him.
If Kickl cannot persuade another party to ally with him, it could end the FPO’s hopes of forming a government and open the door to a coalition of more moderate parties.
Only the OVP has offered any indication it could work with the FPO, but it has ruled out doing so with Kickl, who has given no hint he could step aside to let someone else take charge.
Kickl’s win was hailed by hard-right parties across Europe, where the far-right has made gains in countries including the Netherlands, France and Germany. That growing support could stoke the risk of divisions inside the European Union over key policy areas like the defence of Ukraine against Russia.
Analysts said irrespective of whether Kickl captured the chancellery, Austria was now in uncharted territory.
“This is, of course, a big moment,” said political analyst Thomas Hofer. “This is a turning point in the Second Republic,” he added, referring to the postwar history of Austria.
Kathrin Stainer-Haemmerle, a political science professor at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, said if Kickl did manage to become chancellor, Austria’s role in the European Union would be “significantly different.”
“Kickl has often said that (Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban is a role model for him and he will stand by him.”
Kickl, who this year forged an alliance with Orban, opposes providing aid to Ukraine and wants sanctions against Russia withdrawn, arguing they are hurting Austria more than Moscow.
FPO AND ‘FORTRESS AUSTRIA’
On Sunday, Kickl said he was ready to talk with all parties over forming a coalition, and President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, urged parties to find common ground in negotiations in the coming weeks.
Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader, has voiced reservations about the FPO because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Late on Sunday, a few dozen anti-FPO protesters assembled outside the party’s election celebrations, one holding a placard reading “Kickl is a Nazi” as police kept them at bay.
The Islam-critical FPO wants to stop granting asylum altogether and build a “fortress Austria” preventing migrants from entering.
“Some of these people are given everything they want and need, and they take advantage of it,” said Marcel Sztrelko, a 44-year-old warehouse worker, who voted FPO because of what he said was Austria’s failure to integrate refugees.
The party faced fresh controversy about its past at the weekend, when a video published by newspaper Der Standard showed members of the party attending a funeral where a song popular with the Nazi SS was sung.
A Jewish student group in Vienna filed a complaint against FPO members accusing them of breaching anti-Nazi laws.
Some FPO leaders expressed regret about the incident before results came in showing it had won the election.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy and Dave Graham;Additional reporting by Louis van Boxel-WoolfEditing by Helen Popper, Frances Kerry, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Marguerita Choy)
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