Extreme Right Wins Big in Austrian Poll

Two anti-Islam parties take nearly a third of the vote
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:56 AM CDT
Extreme Right Wins Big in Austrian Poll
Werner Faymann arrives at Social Democrat party headquarters in Vienna. Faymann will become Austria's new chancellor, but the real winners may turn out to be the country's two far-right parties.   (AP Photo/Andreas Schaad)

Austrians woke up today to a shock election result, as 2 extreme right parties won nearly a third of the vote and the two main parties posted their worst results since World War II. The next chancellor will probably be Social Democrat leader Werner Faymann, with 30% of the electorate, but he will struggle to form a coalition after ruling out talks with the two anti-immigrant, anti-Islam parties.

In Vienna last night supporters of the hard-right Freedom Party—mostly young and middle-aged men—drank beer and shouted as the results came in. The Freedom Party had a role in one Austrian government, in 2000, provoking the European Union to impose sanctions. This time, though, the most likely outcome is a German-style grand coalition between the mainstream left and right parties.
(More right wingers stories.)

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