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Why sleepwalking? Seems very awake and intentional.
I was about to post the same thing. The article strikes a very condescending tone towards Austrian voters - like they're idiots for voting this way. Meanwhile, as usual, it's the economy that has people upset:

> Year-on-year inflation peaked at 11.2 percent in January 2023 and remains above the eurozone average. And natural gas prices increased by 103 percent in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period the year prior.

These kinds of numbers have very real consequences for people living paycheck to paycheck.

Austria uses predominantly Russian natural gas via the Ukrainian pipeline. Sure, it sucks that prices are going up, but going against Ukraine and against Bulgaria - the two countries that can transit that Russian gas to them - isn't the smartest of decisions.
When has the far right actually solved any real problems instead of exacerbating them?
So then the alternative is to let Putin have his way with Ukraine, just so gas prices stay low?

It's really interesting how similar the "political programmes" of far-right populists are across the globe, from FPÖ to Orbán to Trump: anti-immigration, vaccine skeptic, isolationist, against international treaties and organizations (EU, UN, NATO, ...), and (most interestingly) consistently pro-Putin. I wonder why...

In EU, electricity price is indexed on gas price, and so, we the gas price is applied to cheap nuclear energy. Also, care do demonstrate how buying Russian oil to India saves Ukraine? Thanks.
Because admitting that right/centre-right views are democratically popular would mean they'd actually have to grapple with the issues going on. It's cheaper and easier to make comparisons with the Nazis and play to the raw outrage of their readership than actually engage in real journalism.
The comparisons with the Nazis - in the case of the FPÖ - are not exactly far-fetched. They have a history of engaging with Neo-Nazis.
Eh, the Liederbuch-Affäre where they sang actual Nazi songs is not known outside of Austria?

Happened a few years ago

When people are leaning towards far-rights it's sleepwalking, when they are leaning towards far-left they are a progressive society.
My thoughts exactly.

What if the left has been destroying their country through unchecked spending and immigration and the right are the only people awake enough to see it?

"What if the left has been destroying their country through unchecked spending and immigration and the right are the only people awake enough to see it?"

We had no left government in ages ;)

The ÖVP is moderate to right and is part of EVERY government since 1987 (!!!)

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ministers_of_finance_(...

But the left wasn't in power the last 7 years. The center-right and the Greens were and are in power. It requires some mental gymnastics to frame this coalition as left.

But to be frank, I'm not following Austrian politics closely. If the FPÖ is anything like the German AfD they are actually a very pro free-market. anti-social and worker-hostile party. I don't know why struggling people would vote for them, but they do.

> I don't know why struggling people would vote for them, but they do.

In stark contrast to many, I know a lot of people voting for the FPÖ, although all my close friends are far more left than right.

I have family that votes for the FPÖ, I have acquaintances and I know them, because I talk to them, uncondescending and am very interested in their motives.

And quite frankly: Most of the time it's simply not logical.

I can point them to laws the FPÖ enacted (because, you know, stuff like that is public), laws that DIRECTLY hurt them and they still vote for them, because "the foreigners, they will take everything we have!"

And even foreigners vote for them. People that are not Austrian citizens but already living in Austria feel like they belong here but now the gates should be closed.

It all boils down to emotions and the good ol' divide et impera, which has worked for millenia all around the world.

Some have their reasons, e.g. because they like what the FPÖ is doing at local levels.

I think the idea is that only people who agree with the author are Austria.
Hopefully KPÖ will agitate enough to guarantee their presence in the federal assembly.
The Beer Party should join forces with the KPÖ
If they are willing to spend their efforts spreading class consciousness, why not ? :D

And also if they understand being part of a commie party in parliement is just to be able to act as a vanguard party.

It's a shame the term "Communist" is burned forever by some idiots calling themselves communists who clearly were not. Yet this is an argument that I'll always lose, because it's academic.

I hope the KPÖ is on my ballot this time and I can give them my vote.

A similar article was written about the Danish vote to the right and journalist and politicians still don't seem to get it. The voters voted for this. Instead of talking down to them, and discrediting their votes, politicians and journalists need to start considering why the policies that were enacted by the governing party failed. Why did the voters reject those?

I think voters across the world are sick and tired of being told by politicians what they should do and think. It should be the other way around.

Every time there are important elections I keep reading that Austria is sliding towards far-right.

I don't remember when was the first time I heard this, but it was a while ago and I guess it was the first time in the 21st century that Austria chose a far-right PM. Don't know the repercussions, but I guess this is a common thing?

And why is it such a huge thing that Austria is shifting towards far-right? I know it's a problem for most countries, but is there anything important about Austria shifting towards this end of the political spectrum?

My guess is the fairly recent history of a certain Austrian authoritatian far-right leader responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the course of human history has something to do with this particular fascination. Not saying every right wing extremist from Austria will turn out the same way, but perhaps not surprising that the locale does raise a couple of extra eyebrows when notable things - like elections - occur.
Just historic reasons. We should know better after Engelbert Dollfuß and Adolf Hitler.
Aren't these socialists?
> but is there anything important about Austria shifting towards this end of the political spectrum?

Because the media's favorite go-to about ANYTHING right of center is "Nazis! Nazis! Nazis!" and well, Hitler was born in Austria, so this is an omen or something.

The headline here is mighty disingenuous, Austria has been voting in far right parties since the late 1990s. In fact, as a country they've moved very much to the right even in the last decade. It's not sleepwalking into anything if the voters consciously keep voting this way in larger numbers, in fact it kind of absolves the Austrian electorate from what they've chosen... "It wasn't me mister, I just sleepwalked into voting for a bunch of unreformed nazis".
What I can't stand is the old "but the left wing does unchecked spending" myth.

The ÖVP reigned ABSOLUTE for decades (!) in Niederösterreich and it has the second most debt of all Austrian states.

Also: The ÖVP is moderate to right and is part of EVERY (federal) government since 1987 (!!!)

Also, guess who provided the minister of finance?... well, no need to guess:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ministers_of_finance_(...

Can't the far-right parties, politicians, and voters just be banned; for democracy's sake and to avoid a "tragic election result"?
Possibly controversial in this day and age of Twitter takes: Germany did not sleep walk into a NSDAP victory. People actually voted for it.

A reason there is so much political division is the stupid belief that the bad outcome happens because nobody is awake/smart/educated enough to stop it from happening. No one considers the fact that they are living in a bubble, and the majority might have a totally different view, and thus political affiliation, than your bubble.

You can thank the social media recommendation algorithms for turning this bubble into a cozy echo chamber. An intellectual prison where both sides move further and further away, each with their own set of truths, beliefs and interpretation of the world. The saddest thing is, media and journalists are the ones most entrenched in the social media idiocy, and help it spread like wildfire.

Party politics were a mistake, social media made it exponentially worse.

> Party politics were a mistake

Agreed, but I don't see practically how to avoid them in a democracy/republic, even if you started from a totally clean slate and could unilaterally make all the rules before setting it loose.

A successful political campaign requires funding and if you don't want directly corporate-sponsored politicians then let's assume for the sake of argument you can create parties which don't take corporate funding. Can't have them running on public funding or you give incumbents a massive potential for corrupt campaign funding.

And different geography drives different motivations. What someone farming in Kansas cares about is probably significantly different from what a lead engineer in San Francisco cares about, even if you zeroed out all their existing cultural biases. People with similar interests then will naturally gather to campaign for their interests. Those interests will probably fund candidates they want to succeed.

And that then leads into a vicious cycle where the winners (even if they're not actual corporations) get economic benefits they use to fund the next favorable candidate and so on and you end up eventually more or less where the US is now.

There is no simple answer to the problems you've described. To me it's clear it is impossible to create a state that is vast (i.e. like the US but also as large as most countries), efficient and largely free from lobbying and corruption.

A government's efficiency is inversely proportional to its size, but the hold it has on its population scales with size. The tendency of the modern government is to restrict its citizens more and more, while becoming less and less efficient. Parties are self-serving entities of the Large and Inefficient State, perpetuating this uncontrollable growth.

To me and most people walking with a circled A on their T-shirts the solution is obvious. The state should simply be smaller, in reach but also in width. The smallest, the better. Why is everyone trying to find a workable solution for a continent-sized country with 300 odd million citizens? Chances are, the problems of Kansas are often quite different than those in California.

> Germany did not sleep walk into a NSDAP victory. People actually voted for it.

30-something percent, IIRC. Enough to give them a large presence in the legislature - the largest, though not a majority. But they didn't really run things until Hitler was appointed chancellor. Appointed. Not elected.

So, yes, Germany did vote - once - for all those Nazis in the legislature. Hitler would probably not have been appointed if the Nazis only had, say, 5% of the seats. But Germany didn't elect Hitler to run the country.

I looked it up: 44%. That's more than is common for governing parties in many political systems (the rest coming from coalition partners for a parliamentary majority), so it's entirely fair to say that NSDAP had people's mandate.
Like the article says, it‘s very likely that the FPÖ will win the next election. Even optimistic liberals share this expectation.

Kickl, I‘m afraid, is much more serious in his anti-democratic ambitions than the FPÖ leaders preceeding him.

It‘s frankly worrying.

> Kickl, I‘m afraid, is much more serious in his anti-democratic ambitions than the FPÖ leaders preceeding him.

Can you elaborate? The article doesn't mention any anti-democratic policies the FPÖ wants to enact.

Depends on where you live... in Graz the KPÖ (Communist Party of Austria) was elected a while ago.

In Salzburg there was a mayor-election that ended in a second ballot between the SPÖ (socialist party of austria) and the KPÖ candidate.

The FPÖ is mostly voted by the people in rural areas that have never seen an asylum seeker... similar to how the rural people voted for Erdogan and how the rural people vote for Putin...

Ignorance is not a bliss for everyone, just for the ignorant.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

I am not sure which side is more retarded these days - left or right. Anyone with half a brain looks on at the tribal demagoguery and disengages from all things political; thus all we are left with is chancers, grifters and charlatans.

Is it really far-right or simply not left?
Barely right at all in fact
Beautiful to see it, hope Germany is next!
Austria is So lucky,these corporate fascist leftists need to get their asses beat.
Sleepwalking is a condescending term, like the author knows better than them.

You know what else is stupid? Excessive over-regulation and the stagnation of Europe's economy, which aligns with the author's politics.

>Year-on-year inflation peaked at 11.2 percent in January 2023 and remains above the eurozone average. And natural gas prices increased by 103 percent in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period the year prior.

Left-wing politics are going to improve this? Lol. Please remind me who are all the groups that got everyone to stop building nuclear power?