MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Another election in Europe and another victory for a far-right party. This time, it's in Austria, where voters yesterday handed the Freedom Party a victory in the national parliamentary election. But as NPR Central Europe correspondent Rob Schmitz reports, the victory could be merely symbolic as mainstream parties are promising to form a coalition government without the far right.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Nearly 30% of Austrian voters have chosen a party whose first leader in the 1950s was a former Nazi SS officer. Today, the party is led by Herbert Kickl, a 55-year-old politician who has come up with provocative campaign slogans such as, Viennese blood - too much foreign is not good for anyone. He's also an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and opposes European aid to Ukraine.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in German).
HERBERT KICKL: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: In his victory speech yesterday, Kickl told supporters to enjoy their success, to soak it up with every fiber of their bodies, because today, they have written history.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in German).
SCHMITZ: Kickl's Freedom Party is the latest far-right party to win elections in Europe. Earlier this month, Germany's AfD party became the first far-right party to win a German state election since the Nazi era. And in July, France's National Rally party won nearly a third of the electorate in national elections there. Europeans are increasingly concerned with what they see as unchecked immigration and a stagnant economy. In Austria, Kickl campaigned on reforms to the immigration system, calling migrants criminals and, quote, "welfare sponges." But in this case, the Freedom Party's victory may not equal power.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KARL NEHAMMER: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: Austria's current chancellor, Karl Nehammer, the leader of the country's mainstream center-right party, said last night that with the future at stake, Austrians now have to ask themselves how a radical party received more votes than those who represent the center of society and reasonable ideas. His and other mainstream parties have promised not to enter into a coalition government with the Freedom Party, thereby blocking the party from governing Austria. Coalition government talks in Austria will begin this week.
Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin.
(SOUNDBITE OF A & C'S "MULTIPLY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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