Austrian Chancellor Says 'a Lot at Stake' as Far-Right Party Looks for Historic Election Win

Karl Nehammer's People’s Party on Friday held their final news conference ahead of national elections in Austria on Sunday.

Nehammer delivered a warning to voters concerned by the prospect of a victory by the far-right Freedom Party.

"Every vote, for example for a small party, harbours the risk that (Freedom Party leader) Herbert Kickl will become chancellor," he said, surrounded by his supporters in Vienna.

"This means that anyone who wants to prevent this has one option, namely to vote for Karl Nehammer," he added.

Recent polls point to a close race but Kickl's Freedom Party could win a national election for the first time, tapping into voters' anxieties about immigration, inflation and Ukraine.

Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to become Austria's new chancellor.

He has used the term “Volkskanzler,” or chancellor of the people, which was used by the Nazis to describe Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Kickl has rejected the comparison.

But to achieve that, he would need a coalition partner to command a majority in the lower house of parliament.

That's something Nehammer has ruled out.

"I have made it clear with whom it is not possible to form a responsible, viable government. The current leader of the FPO (Freedom Party of Austria) does not fulfil these criteria. That's why I excluded him," he said.

Recent polls have put support for the Freedom Party at 27%, with Nehammer's People's Party on 25% and the center-left Social Democrats on 21%.