VIENNA — Austria’s conservatives and right-wing populists surged to victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election, according to early projections, heralding a tectonic shift in the country’s politics after more than a decade under a centrist coalition.
The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) finished first with 31.7 percent and the Social Democrats (SPÖ) second with 26.9 percent. The right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) placed third with 26 percent, the projections showed.
The results, if confirmed, should clear the way for a right-leaning coalition and vault the ÖVP’s 31-year-old leader, Sebastian Kurz, into the office of chancellor, making him Europe’s youngest head of government.
“This is our chance for real change,” Kurz told his supporters after the results were announced. “There is much to do. It’s time for a new political style, time to create a new political culture.”
The rightward shift, coming less than a month after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won nearly 13 percent of the German vote, illustrates the continued potency of the refugee crisis in European politics, a message that will resonate across the EU.
A right-wing coalition in Austria would join Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) government in demanding Europe pursue tougher policies on borders, refugees and migration.
Beyond migration, the Freedom Party shares many of the Euroskeptic positions held by governments in Central Europe and has even suggested Austria join the loose coalition known as the Visegrad Group, which includes the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.