This weekend, while national conservatives and anti-globalists across the world celebrated Giorgia Meloni’s resounding victory against left-liberal forces in Italy, to the north in Austria, elections in the alpine state of Tyrol saw the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) become the region’s second-largest party.
The FPÖ, the only party represented in Austria’s federal parliament which opposed the government’s draconian COVID-19 measures and vaccination mandates, celebrated on Sunday evening after polls revealed that they had increased their share of the vote to 18.8%, just above the leftist-globalist SPÖ party which collected 17.5%, the Vienna-based newspaper Kronen Zeitung reports.
The establishment, center-Right Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP), presently the senior partner in Austria’s coalition government, held onto its top spot but saw its support plunge by 9.5 points down to 34.7%.
Meanwhile, Tyrol regionalist party Liste Fritz garnered 9.9%, the Greens (9.2%), the liberal, EU-federalist party NEOS (6.3%), and the anti-lockdown, vaccine-critical MFG Austria (2.8%).
Tyrol’s FPÖ chairman Markus Abwerzger said he was “very satisfied” with the result, adding that it was proof “the FPÖ is back.”
Former interior minister Herbert Kickl, who serves as the general secretary of the FPÖ, congratulated Abwerzger and his team on the fine election result, saying:
I would like to thank Markus Abwerzger and his team for the great election campaign and the great personal commitment. The Tyrolean Freedom Party has backed the right candidates and the right issues. The people appreciated that. In any case, we liberals will continue to consistently follow the path for more security, prosperity, peace, and freedom. It was very clear today that this path is the right one. Congratulations again to Mag. Markus Abwerzger, to the FPÖ Tirol and to the whole team for their tireless efforts.
Despite its positive result at the polls, the FPÖ will probably not enter into a coalition government with the ÖVP, as the latter previously signaled that it would not ally with the national-conservative party. More than likely, the ÖVP will form a coalition government with the leftist SPÖ.
Voter turnout in Tyrol, which is home to 1.8 million people, was at 65%.
