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[text/observer network chen sijia] on september 29, local time, austria held a national assembly election. according to the associated press, preliminary results show that austria's far-right freedom party ranked first in the vote and will win the national election for the first time. however, the freedom party still needs to try to convince other parties to build a coalition with a majority in parliament to be able to govern in austria.

according to the report, the liberal party, which ranked first, received 29.2% of the vote, the ruling austrian people's party came in second with 26.5%, and the social democratic party came in third with 21%. austria will officially announce final results at a later date after counting the few remaining postal votes, which are not expected to have a significant impact on the outcome.

the support rate of the people's party led by austrian prime minister karl nehammer has dropped significantly compared with 2019, and the support rate of its ally the green party has also dropped to 8%, which means that the ruling coalition composed of the people's party and the green party will lose its nationals. majority in parliament.

the far-right austrian freedom party achieved its best results since the party was founded, winning the national election for the first time. herbert kickel, leader of the freedom party and former austrian interior minister, said: "we have made austrian history. this is the first time that the freedom party has come first in a parliamentary election. you can think about how far we have come."

the austrian freedom party was founded in 1956. its first leader anton leinthaller was a nazi german parliamentarian and ss officer. the washington post stated that at the beginning of its establishment, the liberal party often oscillated between the far right and the center in austria. it was not until the mid-1980s that the liberal party established a far-right position.

although the freedom party is an established party in austria, the party has always been on the fringes of austrian politics. the freedom party won 26% of the vote in the 2017 election and entered the governing coalition. however, in 2019, heinz-christian strache, then austrian deputy prime minister and leader of the freedom party, was exposed as providing benefits to russian oligarchs. lage was forced to resign.

in recent years, the austrian freedom party has worked hard to improve its image to become more attractive to the austrian people. in terms of policy, the liberal party launched a campaign platform called "fortress austria", calling for the deportation of immigrants and the creation of a "more unitary" country by strictly controlling borders and using emergency laws to suspend asylum rights.

the liberal party also called for an end to sanctions on russia, criticized western countries' military assistance to ukraine, and hoped to withdraw from the "european sky shield" air defense system procurement plan initiated by germany. kickel is also skeptical of the eu and advocates transferring some powers from the bloc back to austria.

although some of the liberal party's policy proposals have caused controversy, kickel said during an appearance on the tv program: "we do not need to change our position because we have always said that we are ready to lead the government and we are ready to work with the people to promote change in austria. other parties should ask yourself where they stand on democracy."

however, winning the election does not mean that the liberal party will definitely be able to govern in austria. kickel will also need to try to persuade other parties to ally with him and establish a coalition that occupies a majority of seats in parliament before it can form a government. kickel said on the 29th that he was ready to negotiate with all parties to form an alliance.

the associated press stated that most austrian political parties refused to cooperate with the liberal party. nehammer did not rule out the possibility of cooperation between the austrian people's party and the freedom party, but only if kickel gave up his position in the new government. however, with the liberal party now in first place in the election, this demand is unlikely to be met, and kickel has previously made it clear that he wants to become prime minister.

therefore, whether the liberal party can become the ruling party in austria is still unknown. reuters pointed out that if kickel fails to successfully establish a governing coalition, austria may usher in a "more moderate" government. the austrian people's party and the social democratic party, which are ranked second and third, may also join forces to form a governing coalition. alliance.

existinflationunder the influence of issues such as the crisis, the energy crisis, the russia-ukraine conflict, and other issues, the support rate of right-wing parties in european countries such as france, germany, and the netherlands is growing day by day. in the european parliament elections in june this year, the austrian freedom party defeated the people's party by a slim margin of nearly 1 percentage point. reuters commented that the liberal party's victory again in the national assembly election may promote the rise of the european right wing.

on june 30, kickel also signed a cooperation agreement with hungarian prime minister orban and andrei, leader of the czech dissatisfied citizens action party, announcing the formation of the "european patriots" group in the european parliament. orban, who has launched the slogan "make europe great again", said the group's goal is to become "the strongest right-wing coalition in european politics."

at present, 84 members of the european parliament from 12 eu countries have joined the "european patriots" group, and jordan baldeira, chairman of the french national league, serves as the chairman of the group. the "european patriots" group is the third largest group in the eu after the european people's party group and the socialist party group.

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