He is against the elites, against immigration, against Muslims, against LGBT culture and against the sanctions imposed on Russia. His name is Herbert Kickl, he is 55 years old, and his party could win Sunday’s elections in Austria.
The FPÖ leader also defends individual freedom, advocates for the expulsion of foreigners and uses controversial language.
If the polls are correct, the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) could win up to 27% of the vote in the legislative elections, and beat the conservatives of the ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party, in power with the Greens). since 2020) at 26%, and the left-wing SPÖ (Social Democratic Party) at 20%.
With far-right populism gaining ground across Europe, these predictions come as no surprise. But it would be the first time that this xenophobic political party, with distant Nazi roots, would win the election.
Populist speech
For the FPÖ, this victory would be a real comeback after its scathing defeat in the 2019 early elections.
The party was then in power with the conservative ÖVP. But a corruption scandal led to the resignation of its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, and several of its big guns, including Herbert Kickl, then Minister of the Interior, ultimately causing the implosion of the coalition government.
Five years later, the training seems to have regained momentum, and even more. “I would say that they are back to their full electoral potential,” summarizes political scientist Julia Partheymüller, from the Center for Electoral Research at the University of Vienna.
Kickl’s anti-elite strategy partly explains this rise. Secretary general of the party from 2005 to 2018, and official leader since 2021, this stern-looking ideologue was able to channel the resentment of the population through a reactionary, conspiratorial and populist speech that was quite successful in the country. His speech particularly exploits the discontent caused by inflation, health measures linked to COVID-19, and European sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine, Austria being largely dependent on Russian gas and oil.
PHOTO FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA WEBSITE
Gabriella Greilinger, doctoral student in political science at the University of Georgia
Generally speaking, people struggle financially and are unhappy. The FPÖ took advantage of this dissatisfaction by presenting itself as the defender of the people’s interests.
Gabriella Greilinger, doctoral student in political science at the University of Georgia
Taylor Swift, Adolf Hitler
Muslim immigration is undoubtedly at the heart of this anti-system, sometimes violent, rhetoric. Ardent defender of “nativism” (native white population), Herbert Kickl pleads for a “fortress Austria” with watertight borders, and calls for a “stop at the asylum”, while the country is on the migratory route from there. ‘East.
Immigration is certainly “an issue” in Austria, recognizes Natascha Strobl, journalist and expert in right-wing radicalism. The country is already known for its fairly strict laws, aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers. The subject colored the campaign, especially since an Islamist attack targeting a Taylor Swift concert was foiled during the summer in Vienna.
Natascha Strobl emphasizes, however, that most FPÖ voters “do not live in the regions where the refugees are”.
The FPÖ is also one of the few political parties to openly advocate remigration, a massive and unrealistic mass expulsion plan that involves sending immigrants established in the country home.
This controversial expulsion program likely contributes to the extremist reputation of the FPÖ, founded in the mid-1950s by former SS officers. The party has long since refocused on a kind of libertarian national-populism that technically no longer has anything to do with Nazism. But as Bernhard Weidinger, researcher at the Documentation Center of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW, see next tab), indicates, some of its members “do not hesitate to do things that make us think” of the Third Reich.
PHOTO FROM THE FPÖ WEBSITE
Udo Landbauer, head of the FPÖ in the Lower Austria region
This is the case of Udo Landbauer, leader of the FPÖ in the Lower Austria region, involved a few years ago in a scandal surrounding Nazi songs, and even of Kickl himself, who likes to present himself as the future ” People’s Chancellor,” a term used in the early 1930s to describe Adolf Hitler. Kickl argues that other politicians have been nicknamed this way. But for Bernhard Weidinger, there is no doubt: the leader of the FPÖ has “a real tendency to provocation”.
No coalition with Kickl
A victory for the FPO on Sunday would be historic. But that doesn’t mean that Herbert Kickl’s party will form the next government. He would have to form a coalition with the conservatives of the ÖVP, which is far from certain.
In Austria there is no “sanitary cordon” prohibiting allying with a far-right political party, as is the case in Germany or France. The FPÖ was also part of a coalition government with the ÖVP twice (2000-2005, then 2017-2019). But the conservatives say this time they exclude this option, as long as the divisive Kickl is part of the equation.
PHOTO LOUISA OFF, REUTERS ARCHIVES
“You are the boss – I am your tool” is one of the campaign slogans of the FPÖ and Herbert Kickl, who presents himself as the future “people’s chancellor”.
Could the party sacrifice its leader to be in power? Natascha Strobl doubts it. “Kickl wouldn’t give up his place to anyone else. Perhaps an internal clique would like to suppress him to allow an alliance. But I don’t think that will happen, because the FPÖ is a leader’s party, where the leader has a lot of influence. »
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the polls are correct. According to political scientist Julia Partheymüller, “last-minute strategic votes” could contradict predictions. She notes that the ÖVP has just gained points after its handling of the recent flood crisis, and could have the final say on the configuration of the government. “It could take months,” she concludes, even if the first signs of alliances will appear “within ten days.”