Far Right Stumbles Again in Austrian State Election
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party lost ground on Sunday at a third consecutive state election, further clouding its prospects for joining a national coalition after parliamentary elections due by September.
Heinz-Christian Strache’s Freedom Party - which had stumbled badly in two other state votes this year, including in its heartland of Carinthia - fell below 10 percent in the western province of Tyrol, provisional results showed.
In more good news for the centrist coalition in Vienna, Eurosceptic billionaire Frank Stronach’s new party failed to clear the minimum vote hurdle, halting its momentum from the two previous state elections at which it won 10 percent.
Team Stronach national parliamentary leader Robert Lugar blamed party infighting for the poor showing in Tyrol, saying: “We will do better in the national elections.”