Austria Far Right Set For Historic Win In Vote As Freedom Party Leads In Exit Polls

A projection for ORF public television, based on counting of more than half the votes, put support for the Freedom Party at 29.2% and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party at 26.3%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 20.5%.

Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to become Austria’s new chancellor on the back of the first far-right national election win in post-World War II Austria.

But to become Austria’s new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a majority in the lower house of parliament — and rivals have said they won’t work with Kickl in government.