Vienna [Austria], January 30: In a regional election in Austria's largest state, the ruling conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP) lost its absolute majority with a drop of about 10 percentage points, while the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) saw its best result yet.
The election in Lower Austria was considered a litmus test of the nation's broader political mood as the country handles a series of scandals that have damaged voter confidence.
"The FPO has succeeded in turning this provincial election into a federal election," said Lower Austrian OVP leader and Prime Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
Her party, burdened by corruption investigations and global crises, slipped to 39.8% - its worst result since 1945. The party, which has governed in the state for decades, lost its absolute majority in the state parliament and presumably also in the state government.
However, Mikl-Leitner ruled out a resignation.
The FPO received 24.5% of the vote, its best result yet in the eastern province.
The party entered the race to end the "OVP system" in Lower Austria, as regional party leader Udo Landbauer repeatedly emphasized.
Landbauer also blamed the OVP, led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, for the sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers in the previous year.
According to the projections, the social democratic SPO fell behind the FPO with 20.8%. The Greens were at 7.5% and the liberal Neos at 6.5%.
According to the polls, the 1.3 million eligible voters made their decision based on federal policy and global issues such as inflation, the environment and climate, and migration.
"People voted out corruption," FPO federal party manager Christian Hafenecker said on Sunday evening.
"This is the beginning," he added, referring to the state elections in Carinthia in March and in Salzburg in April.
In nationwide polls, the opposition FPO has been in first place for weeks, ahead of the SPO and in third place ahead of the OVP.
The next nationwide elections are planned for 2024.
The regional election took place amid signs of a deep crisis of confidence in politics. Only 20% to 25% of voters still trust politics after many allegations of corruption, according to political scientist Peter Filzmaier.
One in four could imagine that "under certain circumstances" a system with a strongman at the top would be better than democracy. The Freedom Party benefits significantly from this mood "and from the political short-term memory," Filzmaier said.
The corruption investigations began after a scandal involving a secret video recording taken in Ibiza in 2019, when the Freedom Party's former leader promised a supposed oligarch's niece future state contracts in exchange for support.
Source: Qatar Tribune