- Feb 22, 2017
- 114,409
- 40,681
- 2,290
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 (SPO) 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.
So, the left got 47.4% of the vote and the far right got 28.8%.
Unless Kickl can talk one of the other parties into joining him, he still will not end up with the chancellery, and that has a slim chance as of now.
