He is aggressive, provocative, moves on the margins of pro-Nazism – and even closer – but he is the Winner of the Austrian elections, without this meaning, of course, that he will form a government.
Now, his opponents – by whom he is hated – are being asked to say a big “no” to cooperating with him, something they almost promised to do before the elections.
The reason for it Herbert Kickle, leader of the Freedom Party about whom Chancellor Nehammer of the conservative People’s Party (OVP) recently said:
“It is impossible to form a government with someone who loves conspiracy theorieswhich describes the World Health Organization as the next global governance and the economic forum in Davos as vestibule of world domination».
However, Nehammer leaves open the possibility of cooperation with the far right (FPO), but without Kinkle.
After all, the policies of the two parties overlap to some extent on issues such as immigration policy and tax cuts.
After all, they participated in a government coalition from 2017 to 2019.
The problem is Kickle itself.
Born in 1968, Herbert Kickle almost all conspiracy theories have been adopted released:
It claims that ivermectin (a dewormer for horses) was effective against COVID, directly echoing the views of former US President Donald Trump.
His tough rhetoric against coronavirus restrictions such as lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations helped revitalize his party in a country that had the highest vaccination rates in the EU.
The “People’s Chancellor”
He describes himself as the future “Volkskanzler”, that is, People’s Chancellor, a term used by the Nazis to designate Adolf Hitler, although they were not the only ones.
In 2010, Kickl stated that he was opposed to finding the SS “collectively guilty” of war crimes.
It should be noted that the first leader of the FPO, in 1955, was a senior SS officer and Nazi minister.
Kikl and the FPO oppose sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, saying they violate Austria’s neutrality.
“The most disgusting”
Germany’s BILD declared one of its campaign posters the “most disgusting” of the election.
The poster read ‘Stop EU Madness’, accompanied by black and white drawings of refugees on a boat, tanks, wind turbines, missiles and in the center the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, hugging and exchanging a kiss. “Asylum crisis”, “Warmongering”, “Eco-communism” and “Corona-chaos”, the poster still reads. “FPO is Putin’s voice in Austria,” said Christian Democratic Party (CDU) MEP Dennis Radke.
Posters against aid to Ukraine were hung on the streets of Austria
It is reported that this was done by the Austrian Freedom Party as part of the European Parliament election campaign.
In the posters, Zelensky hugs the head of the European Commission, von der… pic.twitter.com/jnIXAmokmf
– Sprinter (@SprinterFamily) May 9, 2024
Kickle is considered such an outcast on the political scene in Austria, that even the country’s president is thinking about whether he will follow the protocol, namely inviting the winner and entrusting him with the mandate to dialogue with other parties with a view to a coalition.
However, President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the left-wing Greens, expressed reservations about the FPO and especially its leader Herbert Kickle, noting that the constitution does not oblige him to address the winner.
“It’s an established practice, but as far as I know it’s not in the constitution,” he said last year.
With information from Reuters, BBC
