Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO) must seek to clear a path to power after its first-ever parliamentary election victory left the anti-
establishment outfit needing a partner to form a governing coalition.
The triumph of the euroskeptic, Russia-friendly FPO on Sunday was another milestone in the recent rise of Europe’s hard right. However, the party immediately suffered a stiff reality check.
Photo: AFP
Facing FPO party leader Herbert Kickl in a television studio after results came in, leaders of the other parties in parliament dismissed his overtures on forming a coalition.
The FPO finished about 2.5 percentage points ahead of Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) to capture about 29 percent of the vote and Kickl accused his rivals of opposing the will of the people.
“Tomorrow there will be a blue Monday and then we will set about turning that 29 percent into a political reality in this country,” Kickl told supporters on Sunday evening, playing on the fact blue is the color associated with his party.
Kickl, a provocative and polarizing figure allied with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, offered to negotiate with all other parties in Austria. The FPO’s unexpectedly clear victory risks being hollow if it could not find a partner.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader who oversees the formation of governments, urged all parties to hold talks and suggested the process could be drawn out.
Kickl’s win cheered 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 EU over key policy areas such as the defense of Ukraine against Russia.
Kickl says he wants to be a “Volkskanzler,” a term Nazis used for Adolf Hitler, although others have also claimed it.
The 55-year-old Kickl has embraced conspiracy theories, claiming de-worming agent ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, as did former US president Donald Trump. He opposes aid to Ukraine and wants sanctions against Russia withdrawn, arguing they hurt Austria more than Moscow.
Supporters say the FPO’s “Austria First” policies would curb illegal immigration and lift the economy. Critics worry it could herald a more authoritarian state.
Founded in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker, the FPO has worked to moderate its image. Voters were drawn by its pledges to restrict asylum and tackle inflation, although their attachment to Kickl appears limited.
Just 2 percent of FPO voters said he was the main reason for their vote, the lowest of any party leader, a survey by pollster Foresight showed.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS