Austria’s xenophobic right edges towards victory
The Freedom Party is favoured to win the election on September 29th
Austria has been here before. On September 23rd Karl Nehammer, the centre-right chancellor, squared off in a televised debate against Herbert Kickl, the candidate of the hard right. The previous day Mr Kickl had refused to join a forum on a different station that included the leaders of the Social Democrats (SPÖ), the liberal NEOS party and the Greens. None of those parties has a realistic prospect of coming first in the election on September 29th. Mr Kickl, whose Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has its best chance ever to lead the next government, got to face Mr Nehammer one-on-one.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “On the brink, again”
Europe September 28th 2024
- Turkey and Central Asia are riding together again
- Austria’s xenophobic right edges towards victory
- France’s new coalition yanks the country a step to the right
- Turkey wants the EU to regulate the döner kebab
- American long-range missiles are coming back to Europe
- A banking raid in Europe kicks up an unseemly nationalist defence
From the September 28th 2024 edition
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