Austria's general election yesterday has thrown up a result that must concern the other European countries grappling with how to respond to a continental enlargement of the European Union. A further surge in support for the far-right Freedom Party and its leader, Mr Jorg Haider, has made it probably the second largest party and potentially put him into government. His platform vehemently opposes EU enlargement to take in neighbouring states, on the grounds that they threaten Austrian employment and social security.
Mr Haider has gained over 27 per cent of the vote compared to 22 per cent in 1995. Austria's long-standing coalition between the Socialists and the Christian Democrat People's Party, in power since 1986, is put into profound crisis by this result. If postal votes confirm the Freedom Party in second place, the People's Party leader, Mr Wolfgang Schumlussel has said he will resign and go into opposition. If the Socialist chancellor, Mr Klima, whose party lost four percentage points since 1995, cannot form a minority government, the Freedom Party demands that they be given the opportunity to do so. The People's Party is split between those who would and would not accept a coalition with Mr Haider. It may well be that the existing coalition struggles on into next year to face another election based on the same issues as this one.
At least that would force Austrian voters to confront the logic of their preferences. Turnout on this occasion was down nearly nine percentage points on the last one. Many voters refuse to accept that Mr Haider is a fascist, despite successive remarks by him over the last decade revealing his sympathies for Nazi policies. It must be recalled how popular they once were in Austria and how the country has failed to address that fact, despite its many successes in the post-war era. Unemployment is low, real income among the highest in the world and the country has a good record of absorbing migrants, even though immigration is now at a standstill.
A comprehensive system of corporatism based on power-sharing between the two main party blocs at all levels of society, continues to pervade Austria's politics. Many voters are heartily fed up with it and want to see a change. Mr Haider's party combines xenophobia with populist welfare measures, such as a promise to pay £335 per month per child to families. He is a capable orator, well able to exploit the many opportunities daily provided by coalition stasis and bickering. Of late, he has cultivated an appeal to more mainstream right-wing political values but without dropping his extremist past which was helped by his return with 42 per cent of the vote as governor of his native Carinthia province earlier this year. Austria would be well advised to resist his blandishments and look elsewhere for alternatives.