How did Austria’s far right win its first national election since World War II?

Drawing on anxieties about immigration, inflation, and Ukraine, the Freedom Party finished ahead of the governing conservatives on Sept. 29. Rivals say they won’t work with party leader Herbert Kickl, who needs a parliamentary majority to become chancellor. 

First Look

The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria on Sept. 29, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine, and other issues. But its chances of governing were unclear.

Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party was second with 26.5%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21%. The outgoing government – a coalition of Mr. Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens – lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.

Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor.

But to become Austria’s new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority. Rivals have said they won’t work with Mr. Kickl in government.

The far right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.

In its election program, titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “remigration of uninvited foreigners,” for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine, and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Mr. Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.

“We don’t need to change our position, because we have always said that we’re ready to lead a government, we’re ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people,” Mr. Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF public television. “The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,” he added, arguing that they should “sleep on the result.”

Mr. Nehammer said it was “bitter” that his party missed out on first place, but noted he brought it back from lower poll ratings. He has often said he won’t form a coalition with Mr. Kickl and said that “what I said before the election, I also say after the election.”

More than 6.3 million people were eligible to vote for the new parliament in Austria, an EU member that has a policy of military neutrality.

Mr. Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austria’s last parliamentary election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party dominates the Netherlands’ new government, congratulated the Freedom Party on social network X on Sept. 19. So did Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party.

The Freedom Party is a long-established force but the result on Sept. 29 was its best yet in a national parliamentary election, beating the 26.9% it scored in 1999.

In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austria’s post-World War II governments, positioned himself as the polar opposite to Mr. Kickl. Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far right and labeled Mr. Kickl “a threat to democracy.”

While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Mr. Nehammer’s People’s Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8%.

During the election campaign, Mr. Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as “the strong center” that would guarantee stability amid multiple crises.

But crises ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting rising energy prices and inflation also cost it support. The government also angered many Austrians in 2022 with a short-lived coronavirus vaccine mandate, the first in Europe.

But the recent flooding caused by Storm Boris that hit Austria and other countries may have helped Mr. Nehammer slightly narrow the gap as a crisis manager.

The People’s Party is the far right’s only way into government and now holds the key to forming any administration.

Mr. Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Mr. Kickl, describing him as a “security risk” for the country but didn’t rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself – which would imply Mr. Kickl renouncing a position in government. But that looks very unlikely with the Freedom Party in the first place.

The alternative would be an alliance between the People’s Party and the Social Democrats – with or without the liberal Neos, who took 9% of the vote.

A final official result will be published later in the week after a small number of remaining postal ballots have been counted, but those won’t change the outcome substantially.

About 300 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Vienna on the evening of Sept. 29, holding placards with slogans including “Kickl is a Nazi.”

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers Philipp Jenne, Pietro De Cristofaro, David Keyton, and Geir Moulson contributed to this report.