Forming a coalition is likely to prove complicated for Herbert Kickl, who is a divisive figure.
The Social Democrats, Greens and Neos have all ruled out a partnership with the far right.
The only possible coalition Kickl’s party could form is with the conservatives, although the Freedom Party would have to find a solution to the People’s Party’s refusal to have Kickl as chancellor.
When Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party won the Netherlands’ election last November, he dropped his bid to become prime minister so that three other parties would agree to form a coalition. However, Kickl is keen to become chancellor, promising Austrians to act as their “servant and protector”.
Political analyst Thomas Hofer told the BBC it was by no means clear that Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of government, would give Kickl a “direct mandate to form a coalition”.
Van der Bellen has voiced reservations in the past about the FPÖ because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The party opposes EU sanctions on Moscow, citing Austria’s neutrality.
Kickl’s projected victory is the only the latest success for radical right-wing parties in Europe.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni heads a right-wing coalition as leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and Germany’s AfD topped the polls in the eastern state of Thuringia last month.
Unlike Kickl, Italy’s prime minister has given her full backing to the EU’s defence of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Kickl has also tapped into fears about immigration in Austria and he has made the most of anger at the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, embracing conspiracy theories about obscure treatments for the virus.
