Ukraine-Skeptical Conservatives Win in Austrian Election

The right-populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) won first place in Austria’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, almost doubling their seat count. The election marks the first time that the FPÖ has won a parliamentary election.

The FPÖ earned 28.8 percent of the vote and 56 of the 183 seats in Austria’s dominant lower house, the National Council. This was a significant increase from their results in the previous election, in 2019, which saw them win only 16.2 percent and 31 seats. 

By contrast, the Atlanticist governing coalition of the centrist Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Greens lost their majority. The ÖVP fell from 37.5 percent of the vote and 71 seats to 26.3 percent and 52 seats. The Greens dropped from 13.9 percent of the vote and 26 seats to 8.3 percent of the vote and 16 seats.

The issue of aid to Ukraine played a significant role in the campaign. The FPÖ ran on cutting aid to Ukraine and abandoning sanctions against Russia, both of which it views as violations of Austria’s long-standing neutrality. The deputies of the FPÖ had walked out of a speech given to the Austrian parliament by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2021. Despite geopolitical neutrality being enshrined in Austria’s constitution, the governing ÖVP-Green coalition had given over €250 million to Ukraine over the course of the conflict.

Another important issue in the campaign was immigration with the FPÖ supporting further immigration restriction and remigration, including the creation of a “Remigration Commissioner” for the European Union. “What I have noticed in the last few weeks during the election campaign is that there is above all a need for sensible migration policy, that there is a need for remigration,” FPÖ General Secretary Christian Hafenecker told the press in June, following the FPÖ’s victory in June’s European elections.

Even with its election win, it is unclear whether the FPÖ will be able to form a governing coalition. While it has formed coalitions with the ÖVP in the past, it has only done so as a junior partner. Meanwhile, ÖVP has stated its refusal to support the FPÖ’s leader, Herbert Kickl, for the chancellorship. Nevertheless, various European conservative figures have congratulated the FPÖ on their electoral victory, which marks a major win for the new EU-level, Orban-led Patriots for Europe group. “What a weekend!! After the Czech Republic, another victory for the Patriots across the border…. No war, no migration and no gender propaganda,” Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister of Hungary, wrote in a Facebook post congratulating the FPÖ.