Far-right Freedom Party (FPO) is projected to finish first in Austria’s national elections, edging out the ruling conservatives.
The projected victory highlights the electorate shift in Europe toward hard right parties caused largely by rising concerns over immigration levels.
According to a poll presented on TV Austrian broadcaster ORF, polling firm “Foresight” forecast that FPO had received 29.1 percent of the vote in Sunday’s national elections, with Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party (OVP) coming second with 26.2 percent.
The center-left Social Democrats (SDP) were projected to come third, with 20.4 percent.
A separate projection by pollster Arge Wahlen also had the FPO coming first, winning by about four percentage points, a bigger winning margin than final polling had indicated.
The projections were met with cheers by jubilant party staff and supporters at an FPO event in the capital, Vienna.
Kickl, a former interior minister who has led the FPO since 2021, seeks to become Austria’s new chancellor on the back of the first far-right national election win in the country since World War II.
