Austria’s political atmosphere significantly changed this past Sunday with the election of the Freedom Party (FPO), a far-right political party formed out of the remains of the Nazi party post-World War II in Austria, during the nation’s parliamentary election.
The FPO’s rise to power on Sunday made history, marking the first time a Nazi-based political party won a nation’s election after the end of World War II in 1945, coming nearly 24 years after its participation in Austria’s coalition government in 2000, which made it the first Nazi-rooted party to form a European government after the fall of Hitler.
Sunday’s election saw the FPO receiving more support than any other party, obtaining 28.8% of votes, while the more moderate but still right-leaning political party currently in control of Austria’s government, the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), finished with 26.3%. Coming in third were the Social Democrats (SPO), or Austria’s more liberal political party, with 21.1% of the vote.
However, the FPO’s win doesn’t mean that they get to single-handedly hold a majority of the Parliament. Unlike the United States’ government, Austria’s government centers around proportional representation.
For context, representation in Congress in the United States is more of a winner-take-all system, in which the candidate who receives a plurality of the votes (as opposed to a majority of the votes) represents the entire district, even if there is a substantial number of votes for the opposing party. This plurality system, used by the United States and various other nations across the globe, works best (and in turn facilitates) with the two-party system.
However, this is not the case with Austria. As previously examined, Austria has at least three political parties with strong support from their population, in addition to more, not listed, that also won a substantial percentage of the votes in Sunday’s election. As a result of this diversified political atmosphere, Austria cannot support a plurality-based two party system, like the United States can.
Instead, it must rely on proportional representation. Proportional representation aims to ensure that a wide variety of political parties are represented in elections. Consider an example where a district had 3 seats up for election and Party A won 57% of votes, while Party B won 43% of votes. In a plurality system, like the United States, this would likely result in all three seats going to Party A.
But in nations like Austria, with a proportional representation system, this would probably result in 2 seats being awarded to Party A and 1 awarded to Party B. Similar permutations would occur across the nation, facilitating the representation of more political parties, and as a direct result, more diverse voices.
And it is this system that poses the second set of challenges for the Austrian FPO, as it seeks to form a coalition government with other political parties.
As the FPO looks to ally with other parties, one of its most potential partners appears to be the OVP, a party with which the FPO has formerly allied. Both the FPO and OVP are right-leaning parties and have previously collaborated in a coalition government twice before, although this is the first time that the FPO is looking to take the lead of any government formed.
Yet, the likelihood of such a government forming, both due to the disinclination of the party head of the OVP and the sheer political gain for all parties involved, seems low, proving to be a hurdle to the FPO’s power early on in their term.
Whatever may be the case, the FPO’s rise to power certainly appears to be a dramatic turn in the history of Austria — and the globe as a whole — and seems to be the latest in a series of increasingly politically polarized nations, coming merely a week after the election of the left-leaning, Marxist leader of Sri Lanka.
As the world dives deeper and deeper into election season, it is imperative that we stay aware of this ever changing and interconnected political atmosphere in which we live and work to prevent political polarization as we move forward and strive for a better future.
