The Soon-to-be PM of Austria: 31 Year old Sebastian Kurtz
After a narrow defeat in the early 2017 presidential election, many believed that the far right had been severely weakened in Austria. The legislative elections on October 13th, however, proved otherwise. The election was unique in that it was almost solely about immigration. The Conservative Party, led by Sebastian Kurtz adopted a strong nationalist position, largely usurping the rhetoric of the more hardline Freedom Party of Austria. The Socialists performed particularly poorly after a scandal emerged from information revealing that their consultants created fake racist Facebook pages that attempted to discredit Kurtz.
Austria has a parliamentary system, meaning that Kurtz and his 62 seats (32% of parliament) needs to form a coalition. The most likely outcome is an alliance with the Freedom Party, which won 26% of seats. The result will be a Conservative-Nationalist coalition, which will likely push for Austria to close down immigration channels and resist EU attempts to establish migrant quotas. With this election, Austria joins a long list of European nations moving to the right as voters resist mass migration.
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