The FPÖ won Sunday’s parliamentary election with nearly 29% of the vote, while Chancellor Karl Nähammer’s conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) came in second with just over 26%.
The Social Democrats (SPÖ) came third with 21% of the vote, historically the party’s worst performance.
“The Austrian Freedom Party is a threat because they have already said they want to rule in the image of Viktor Orbán from Hungary,” said 26-year-old student Rihab Tumi, referring to the nationalist and the anti-Kremlin prime minister of Hungary.
Although the Freedom Party won the elections, there is no guarantee that its radical leader Herbert Kikla would give the opportunity to form a government, as the other parties do not want to cooperate with him.
“This result was shocking and we cannot allow a party that has moved so far to the right to get so much support, [mums] without saying anything,” said Marianne, a 53-year-old social worker who declined to give her last name.
The organizers of the demonstration said that 15 to 17 thousand protesters took part in the march to the parliament in the center of Vienna.
They held placards reading “Let’s defend democracy”, “No alliances with Putin’s friends” and other anti-FPÖ slogans.
Kikl has criticized the sanctions imposed by the European Union on the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his closest associates for attacking Ukraine.
Demonstrators plan to march every Thursday. They did the same after the FPÖ was included in short-term coalition governments in 2000 and 2017.
