Why is support for Austria's far-right FPÖ rising?
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Loading... - Adriana Salazar
- 27 Jan 2023
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Some polls already put Austria's Freedom party in the lead, with up to 25 percent of voters saying they would choose the far-right party. But why are they riding high in the polls?
What's happening?
Austria's Freedom Party, the FPÖ, has been steadily climbing in recent polls. This weekend, it took the lead in the OGM/Kurier poll, with 25 percent of respondents saying they would vote for the party, followed by the centre-left SPÖ (24 percent) and the centre-right ÖVP (19 percent).
The FPÖ peaked at 26 percent in the 2017 national elections, when it became a junior partner in government with the ÖVP. Both parties rode the wave of anti-migration speeches as Europe faced the migrant crisis of 2015-16.
However, just two years later, the government collapsed when videos of the vice-chancellor and head of FPÖ Heinz-Christian Strache, offering public contracts in exchange for political support surfaced. The scandal was known as Ibizagate and investigations are still ongoing.
At the time, FPÖ dipped in polls and has been in the opposition since then. However, a combination of “short-term memory” among the population and the permanence of controversial topics such as migration benefits the blue party, political experts have told Austrian media. Read More…
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