Upcoming European elections. - Right-wing FPÖ poised for triumph in Austria
In Austria, the right-wing FPO party is projected to prevail in the European elections, according to polling station closing trends. In opposition to the social democratic SPO and conservative OVP, the right-wing populist party secured 27% of the votes. Compared to the previous EU elections in 2019, the FPO gained approximately 10 percentage points. During the campaign, they advocated anti-EU sentiments and underscored their stance with the slogan "Stop EU insanity," depicting the EU as an instigator of the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
The OVP government lost about 10 percentage points in the polls. According to Demoskopen's calculations, which considered interviews conducted before and on the voting day, both the SPO and OVP received around 23% of the votes each. Though the election results were similar to those from five years ago for the SPO, the OVP saw a significant decline.
Interestingly, the Green Party's top candidate Lena Schilling, a 23-year-old climate activist, faced a character debate influenced by media reports. Based on trends, the Greens are predicted to lose nearly four percentage points and garner about 10% of the votes. The Neos, a liberal party, might see a slight increase and potentially earn around 10% of the votes.
The European Parliament will welcome 20 future MEPs from Austria. Alongside this electoral outcome, the vote also served as a litmus test for the National Council election scheduled for fall. As per current polls, the FPO has been viewed as the predominant party with a likelihood of winning.
Several media outlets, including news agency APA, public broadcaster ORF, and private broadcaster Puls24, reported the trend forecast. It leveraged polling station surveys conducted by Foresight, Arge Wahlen, and Peter Hajek.
