Following the historic win of the far-right, backdoor negotiations began on Monday to form a coalition, but far-right FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl risks being sidelined from power.
“Victorious, but now what?” headlines daily Kurier, highlighting that no one wants to ally with the 55-year-old politician deemed too radical; his illiberal and anti-European agenda includes opposition to sanctions against Russia.
Facing this block, he may share the same fate as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, who had to abandon his Prime Ministerial ambitions, or like France’s National Rally (RN), blocked by the popular front.
Austria, national parliament election: Preliminary final result: FPÖ-PfE: 29.8% (+12.6) ÖVP-EPP: 26.3% (-11.2) SPÖ-S&D: 21.1% (-0.1) NEOS-RE: 9.2% (+1.1) GRÜNE-G/EFA: 8.3% (-5.6) KPÖ-LEFT: 2.4% (+1.7) BIER-*: 2% (new) KEINE-LEFT: 0.6% (+0.1) LMP-*: 0.6% (new) +/- vs. last… pic.twitter.com/Xa3MfiurWd
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) September 29, 2024
Winning 28.8% of the vote ahead of the conservatives, Herbert Kickl has outperformed his predecessors, Jörg Haider and Heinz-Christian Strache. The next move belongs to President Alexander Van der Bellen from the Greens.
"Tradition dictates he should hand the mandate to the leading party," notes Andreas Eisl, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute. However, the greens leader has expressed reservations about Herbert Kickl and warned that the government must gain the support of a majority of 92 MPs and uphold democracy and Austria’s foreign commitments.
The head of state also has the authority to task the conservatives of the ÖVP (26.3%), despite their worst defeat in history. According to the analyst, an unprecedented combination could emerge, with a three-way coalition involving the ÖVP, the Social Democrats of SPÖ (21.1%), and the small liberal party Neos (9.2%).
