‘Red Vienna’ holds onto election, as Austria’s far-right receives record vote in midst of migrant crisis

Europe’s migrant crisis helped Austria’s far-right post its best-ever election result in Vienna on Sunday, not far behind the Social Democrats (SPOe)—who have ruled the city uninterrupted since 1945. The record result for the Freedom Party (FPOe), now led by Heinz-Christian Strache, represented a rise of 6.5 percentage points compared to the last election in Vienna in 2010, winning 32.3 percent of the vote in the city state compared to the 39.4 percent posted by the SPOe.

Help for our poor, instead of open doors for economic migrants

FPOe posters in Vienna

A major issue for voters – mirrored across Europe – has been the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants into the continent this year. Austria has seen more than 200,000 migrants enter the country since the beginning of September, most of whom travel onwards to Germany or Scandinavia. But the government still expects some 85,000 asylum claims this year, making the Alpine country of 8.5 million people one of the highest recipients in Europe on a per-capita basis. Strache has called for Austria to copy Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and put fences up at its borders, but also campaigned on traditional SPOe issues like alleviating poverty.

Every property owner does this with his house, putting a fence around his garden and not leaving the doors and windows open, so unwelcome guests don’t come.

Strache,  earlier this year.

Politics Austrian election