In Austria, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party is in the lead in the elections to the National Council, the lower house of the parliament, which won 29.2% of the vote.
Such preliminary results were reported by the Minister of the Internal Affairs Gerhard Karner.
A high turnout was recorded at the elections — 74.9%. 4.8 million out of 6.3 million Austrian citizens who have the right to participate in the elections cast their vote.
According to the preliminary results, for the first time in the countryʼs post-war history, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party led by Herbert Kickl became the leader with 29.2%.
In second place is the current Chancellor Karl Nehammerʼs Austrian Peopleʼs Party with 26.5%. The Social Democratic Party of Austria received 21%, while the Greens and NEOS received 8% and 9%.
Kicklʼs party intends to get about 58 seats in the 183-seat parliament, the current chancellorʼs party — 52, and the Social Democrats — 41.
The final result of the election will be determined by the Federal Election Office on October 16.
Why is this important?
The Austrian Freedom Party has cooperated with various Russian entities since at least 2008. In December 2016, the partyʼs leadership signed an official agreement on "Cooperation and cooperation" with the Kremlin ruling party "United Russia".
Kickl and his like-minded people accuse NATO of starting Russiaʼs war against Ukraine, believing that the USA is the main beneficiary. They oppose Ukraineʼs support and Austriaʼs participation in sanctions against Russia, arguing that this violates the countryʼs principle of neutrality.