Austria – Herbert Kikle: Anti-European, conspirator who wants to become “Cachelle of the People”

Aggressive, provocative, anti-European, conspirator is the winner of her election, Herbert Kikl who promised to restore security and wants to become “Volkskanzler” i.e. “Cachelle of the People”. Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) opened the door to a new era, he told his supporters, as he was celebrating an unprecedented election victory in Sunday’s election without that of course forming a government. Kikl’s raised 29.2% of the vote according to the provisional results – almost three units ahead of Chancellor Karl Nehamer’s conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) with 26.5% while the Socialist Party (SPO) was third with 21% and 41 seats. Kickle’s victory is only the most recent in a series of far-right election successes in Europe and he praised voters for the “hesitancy, courage and trust” that gave voters a “part of history”. Born 19 October 1968 Herbert Kikle is an Austrian politician and has been leading the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since June 2021. He previously served as Interior Minister from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary General of FPÖ from 2005 to 2018. It is a person characterized by incendiary, polaristic rhetoric with a clear far-right and anti-immigration speech. He has also embraced almost every conspiracy theory circulating. For example, it has claimed that ibermectin was (a deparasitic to horses) effective against COVID, directly echoing the views of former US President Donald Trump. His harsh rhetoric against coronavirus restrictions, such as lockdowns and the mandatoryity of vaccinations, helped revive his party in a country that had the highest vaccination rates in the EU. Kikle’s main opponent, Austria’s current chancellor Carl Nehammer (Karl Nehammer) of ÖVP, said it is “unable to form a government with someone who worships conspiracy theories and describes the World Health Organization, as the next world governance and economic forum in Davos as an vestibule of world domination.” Nehamer however leaves open the possibility of working with the far right (FPO) but without Kinkle. The “Cancellor of the People” describes himself as the future “Volkskanzler” i.e. “Cancellor of the People” a term the Nazis used for Adolf Hitler, although they were not the only ones. In 2010, Kikl stated he was opposed to the SS being considered “collectively guilty” of war crimes. Note that the first FPO leader, in 1955, was a senior SS officer and Nazi minister. Kikl and the FPO oppose the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, saying they violate Austria’s neutrality and many of his MPs left a speech by Ukrainian Volontimer Zelenski in the Vienna parliament last year. Kikle is considered to be such a pariah on the political scene in Austria, that even the country’s president Alexander Van der Bellen thinks about whether he will observe the custom, invite the winner and instruct him to chat with other parties for the purpose of a coalition. In particular, President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of left-wing Greens, has expressed reservations about the FPO and especially about Herbert Kikle’s leader, noting that the constitution does not oblige him to address the winner. Political analyst Thomas Hofer told the BBC that it is not at all clear that Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will give Kikle “direct government formation order”. ÖVP could theoretically work with the Social Democrats, if the latest predictions are correct, and could attract the liberal Neos party or the Greens. Similarly, Carl Nehamer can be pressured by ÖVP to put aside his objections. A leading FPÖ executive said that after such a historic defeat he would have to resign, although this was rejected by the general secretary of the Nehamer party. President Van der Bellen has also previously expressed reservations about FPÖ because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Information from BBC, Reuters Photo source: Reuters