Freedom party seeks coalition partner to distance Austria from EU

The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won Austria's election with 29.2 percent but fell short of reaching a majority in parliament. Finding a coalition partner seems to be impossible as no other party wants to collaborate… well, almost no party.

Sections of the conservative People's Party would be open for coalition talks – but not with the current FPO leader Herbert Kickl.

"Only without Kickl," a People's Party member told CGTN just before results were published. Because of Kickl's "wild conspiracy theories," he added.

The FPO, however, wants to hold on to its chairman.

"You can't force a party to change its leader," Hilmar Kabas, one of the FPO's former leaders, told CGTN.

As soon as the election results were in, anti-far right protesters hit Vienna's streets condemning the Freedom Party's past use of Nazi slogans and Hitler songs.

It is not just the protesters who are unhappy with the election results. If the Freedom Party does not find a partner, Austria's conservatives and social democrats could team up for a government without far-right participation, even though they have a very slim majority in parliament.

The FPO, however, is determined to place Herbert Kickl in the chancellor seat. 

"We are now really going to write a new chapter in Austrian history," Kickl said during the victory celebration. "What we have achieved is beyond my wildest dreams."

Meanwhile, Europe is bracing for difficult times as Austria's election winner is set to ally with the EU-defiant Hungary.

"We want to put an end to this sell-out of our sovereignty to Brussels," Petra Steger, one of the FPO's Members of European Parliament, told CGTN. "Because the European Union wants to take over more and more powers."

Regarding the conflict, she added that more sanctions, more escalations and more arms deliveries are adding fuel to the fire. 

"We don't want that," Steger said.

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