People walk past election campaign billboards showing Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) and Herbet Kickl of the far-right Austria Freedom Party (FPOe) on September 24, 2024 in Vienna, Austria. Austria is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on September 29.
A far-right party founded by former Nazis appeared to have won Austria's election Sunday, in a result that could reshape Europe's political landscape and help tilt the balance of power between Russia and the West.
Projections from ORF public television based on exit polls suggest that the pro-Russia, anti-immigration Freedom Party, or FPÖ, has finished first with 29.1% % of the vote.
They appear to have edged out the ruling conservative Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP) or Austrian People's Party, into second place with 26.2% of the vote. The Social Democratic Party of Austria finished third with 20.4%.
The FPÖ's victory is the latest sign that a movement characterized by anti-immigrant and anti-Islam sentiment has made a breakthrough in the continent.
It represents a stunning reversal of fortunes for the party, which crashed out of government in 2019 after a corruption scandal. But it has fallen far short of an absolute majority in the tight election and will need help to form a stable government.
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