Election Win for Immigration Hardliners in Austria, But Prospect of Power Unclear

Austria’s populist Freedom Party (FPO) has secured its highest share of the national election vote for the first time in Austria, beating Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s governing conservative People’s Party (OVP). On Sunday, the FPO won 29.2 percent of the vote, while Nehammer’s ruling OVP took 26.3 percent, and the center-left Social Democrats finished third with 21 percent. The Greens, who govern with the OVP, dropped to 8.3 percent. Political Reality FPO party leader Herbert Kickl said in a television studio after the results came in that leaders of the other parties in parliament dismissed his call to form a coalition. But to become Austria’s new leader, he will need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority....