In Austria, the far right leads the lower house of Parliament but is moving away from power

Robert Novoski

Walter Rosenkranz of Austria (center foreground), FPÖ member of parliament, after being elected president of the Austrian National Council, at the plenary session of the Austrian Parliament, in Vienna, 24 October 2024. Walter Rosenkranz of Austria (center foreground), FPÖ member of parliament, after being elected president of the Austrian National Council, at the plenary session of the Austrian Parliament, in Vienna, 24 October 2024.

The new president of the Austrian National Council has a scar on his face that is the pride of Germany’s most conservative student company; those whose members – only men – regularly compete in open fencing duels. Thursday 24 October, Walter Rosenkranz, 62, became the first right-wing elected official since the end of Nazism in 1945 to seize the presidency of the lower house of Parliament in the small Alpine country, a consequence of the historic victory of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) during the parliamentary elections on 29 September .

After a secret ballot, Mr. Rosenkranz received 100 votes from the 183 deputies in the National Council. His election was expected as almost all the other parties represented in Parliament had announced their desire to stick to the unwritten custom of seeking this prestigious position, second in the state in order of protocol, to be given to the party with the strongest group. However, since becoming the first winner in the election with almost 29% of the vote, the FPÖ, a party founded by former Nazis, has 57 seats, which is the largest in its history.

Only the leader of the Green Party, Werner Kogler, announced his group’s desire to collectively oppose this appointment, believing that“There is no custom governing the election of someone who opposes the EU [Union européenne]»and remembering that FPÖ candidates have in the past described the identity movement as « rafraîchissant ». “For me, democracy is the main thing”defended Mr. Rosenkranz in return after his election, playing up his profile as a lawyer to try to convince his opponents.

Much consolation

This appointment was a kind of consolation prize for the right-wing party, while its leader, the radical Herbert Kickl, at the same time saw his chances of gaining power diminishing. On Tuesday, the Austrian president, ecologist Alexander Van der Bellen, announced, after consultations with all parties, that he would prefer to entrust the mandate of forming the next government to the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), which has arrived. Second. Known for his aggressiveness and conspiracy theories, Mr. Kickl “can’t find a coalition partner who will make him chancellor”M. Van der Bellen’s justification.

The outgoing chancellor, the conservative Karl Nehammer, immediately announced that he would start negotiations with the Social Democrats, which came in third, and another party, most likely the liberal NEOS party. The three parties have large majorities in the National Council, but they still have to agree on the government’s program, which is expected to take a long time and be complicated given their ideological differences. While comparing the president’s decision with a ” present “ addressed to his voters, Mr. Kickl reiterated that he remains ready “to take responsibility” if these negotiations fail.

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