Austria's far-right Freedom Party is celebrating after exit polls show it has secured a narrow win in general elections. But there is no guarantee that it will find partners to work with in government. CGTN’s Johannes Pleschberger reports.
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00:00The Austrian far-right, the Freedom Party, is celebrating here behind me in Vienna
00:05because according to projections based on the first results,
00:08they are winning these parliamentary elections here in Austria.
00:12There's still a margin of deviation by around 2%,
00:16so it could still change because just 2% behind the Freedom Party
00:21are the governing conservatives, the People's Party.
00:25So we still don't know who will win these elections.
00:29It could still change, but according to these projections,
00:32based on the 30% votes already counted, the Freedom Party is winning in Austria.
00:38Well, Johannes, the margin according to the projections is very low, it's only 2%.
00:43But winning is not necessarily a ticket to power, isn't it?
00:47Niehammer said his party won't join a government with Herbert Kekul in it.
00:52Yes, exactly.
00:55So the Freedom Party, this far-right party, actually originates from the VDU,
01:02which was an ex-Nazi party.
01:05But times have changed and they've become a party far-right,
01:09but still voted by many parts of the population, mostly workers,
01:14but also people who are unsatisfied with globalization,
01:17with high inflation, high cost of living.
01:19So the Freedom Party was able to double the votes compared to the last election,
01:28and they're around 30% now, but still the main possible coalition partner,
01:33the People's Party, the conservatives, the leader has said
01:36he would not go into a coalition with the Freedom Party, with the far-right,
01:40if the current leader, Herbert Kekul, would be chancellor or vice-chancellor.
01:46So it's unclear yet, because it could be that the Freedom Party gets rid of its leader
01:53and puts another candidate in the leading position,
01:56and then there could be a future government here in Austria
02:00between the conservatives and the far-right.