Austria
The story
1918–1986 · From the far left to Haider
The earliest challenge to Austria's established parties came from the far left. The Communist Party (KPÖ), founded in 1918, is one of the oldest communist parties in Europe — briefly in government after the Second World War, winning 5.4% in 1945, then largely irrelevant for decades while remaining loyal to Moscow through 1956 and 1968.
On the right, the Federation of Independents (VdU), formed in 1949 with roots in pan-Germanism, merged in 1956 with the Freedom Party to form the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Both the VdU and the early FPÖ maintained an "openness to all" policy that welcomed former Nazis — its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, had been an SS officer. A more extreme 1967 splinter, the National Democrats, was dissolved by the interior ministry in 1988, a decision upheld by the Constitutional Court. Under Jörg Haider, who won a power struggle for the leadership in 1986, the FPÖ turned toward a harder line on immigration and the EU.
2000 · The EU boycott
The FPÖ's 1999 result of almost 27 percent brought it into government with the ÖVP in 2000. Israel recalled its ambassador and all fourteen other EU states informally isolated Austria — a boycott that collapsed within months after an EP-commissioned report found no threat to EU values. Haider himself never joined the government and stepped down as party leader during the crisis.
The FPÖ lost almost two-thirds of its voters in the 2002 election after taking responsibility in office. In 2005 Haider split off to found the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), which faded after his death in 2008; the FPÖ, rebuilt by Heinz-Christian Strache, recovered by hardening its stance on immigration.
2017–2026 · Ibiza to a first-place finish
Under Strache, the FPÖ reached 26 percent in 2017 and entered a second coalition with the ÖVP under Sebastian Kurz. The Ibiza affair — footage of Strache offering favours in exchange for campaign help — collapsed the government within a week. Norbert Hofer, then Herbert Kickl, rebuilt the party through the pandemic on anti-restriction and pro-Russian positions; Kickl argued NATO and Russia "shared responsibility" for the invasion of Ukraine.
In 2024 the FPÖ won the largest vote share in a national election for the first time. Every other party initially ruled out cooperation; talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS collapsed in early 2025, and after a brief attempt at an ÖVP–FPÖ coalition also failed, the ÖVP formed a government with the SPÖ and NEOS instead. The FPÖ remains in opposition — and has since continued to lead opinion polls by a substantial margin.
A quiet revival on the far left
The KPÖ has staged a quiet far-left revival focused on housing policy, winning the Graz mayoralty (2021), returning to the Salzburg state parliament (2023) and taking 3% in the 2024 European election, its best nationwide result since the 1960s, though without a seat, while criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Parties
FPÖ
Freedom Party of Austria · founded 1956
Right-leaning on economics, among Europe's more radical anti-immigration parties since the early 1990s, and consistently supportive of Russia even after 2022. Since 1990 Austria has had a right-wing parliamentary majority, yet the ÖVP has formed government with the FPÖ only three times — a sign of the established right's own ambivalence about the party.
KPÖ
Communist Party of Austria · founded 1918
Still self-identifies as communist and has traditionally opposed EU membership, but built its recent revival on a strong, local focus on housing issues rather than ideology.
EP elections
FPÖ MEPs have held seats in the European Parliament since Austria joined the EU in 1995, sitting as non-inscrits (with a brief spell in the ITS group in 2007) until co-founding the Identity and Democracy group in 2015. In 2024 the party increased its seats from three to six and, together with ANO (Czechia) and Fidesz (Hungary), founded Patriots for Europe — which became the European Parliament's third-largest group.
FPÖ
Freedom Party of Austria
- Economics Right
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism High
KPÖ
Communist Party of Austria
- Economics Left
- Social issues Progressive
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Low