TEHRAN _ Eventually the Austrian general election was held. The outcome of the election was very disappointing for the EU. Routing the far- right to power shows that Europe will have a hard time ahead. This is the first time that a radical right-wing party in Europe could enter into the equations of the country's executive.

Although the far-right parties are present in the European Parliament, they have not yet been present in the government. The parties to the right-wing extremism have practically failed to enter into the political equations of their countries in the process of forming a coalition government. Most European countries oppose the adoption of extreme right-wing parties in the process of forming a coalition government. For example, in Germany, the Christian Democrat never stands in a coalition with the AFD (which is the third most powerful party in the country). In Sweden, the Democratic Party affiliated with the Straight Right is the third most powerful party in the parliament, but none of the traditional parties are willing to join the coalition, and they form coalition governments without it.

As media reported, SEBASTIAN Kurz has declared victory in the Austrian elections following the latest vote projections, which could see him form an alliance with the far-right in a crushing blow for the European Union (EU). 

The People’s Party (OVP) got 31.6 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls from pollster SORA. Mr Kurz's party is tough on migration, easy on taxes and widely Eurosceptic after rebranding itself over the last few months to propel its popularity in the wealthy Alpine nation.

The 31-year-old is expected to form a coalition with the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPO), founded by a former SS officer, who got 26.9 per cent of the vote, according to the latest projections. 

Speaking after 85 per cent of the votes were counted, Mr Kurz told his cheering supporters: "Today we have won a huge mandate to change this country, and I promise you I will work with all my energy for change. We want to establish a new culture in politics. And we want to change the country for the better.”

The Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the last government, are in third place with 26 per cent.

The OVP will be the biggest party in the new parliament, according to the OE24 exit poll, with 57 seats – an increase of 10.The FPO will take 51 seats, up 11.The SPO, the largest party in the last parliament, will lose three seats, leaving them with 49.Mr Kurz said: "I would of course like to form a stable government."If that cannot be done then there are other options." He said he planned to talk to all parties in parliament .

Kurz against Macron 

As Express reported, Mr Kurz has already rejected EU reform proposals by Mr Macron.He was the foreign minister in the coalition government with the centre left SPÖ which ruled Austria until this election.  

Sunday’s result shows a move away from the middle ground and comes just a month after Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won nearly 13 per cent of the German vote. Mr Kurz was one of the backers of the recent law imposed in Austria banning the burka.

 He was also instrumental in closing down the Balkan route into Europe used by Middle Eastern refugees. Mr Kurz’s OVP has promised to cut access to social welfare benefits for refugees for at least five years. The move comes after Austria was used as a gateway for nearly 900,000 migrants making their way to Germany. Austria also received more than 68,000 applications for asylum in 2015.

 Victory of Freedom party 

However, the most important point about the recent national elections in Austria was the Freedom Party's move to the coalition government.The Freedom Party was founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s. It nearly won the presidency last year and topped opinion polls in the midst of Europe's migrant crisis. While the Freedom Party got 26.8 per cent of the vote. During the first exit poll by OE24, the People’s Party (OVP) got 31 per cent of the vote, while the Freedom Party got 29 per cent of the vote, according to the exit poll. 

Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party were in third place with 25 per cent. The SPO’s projected result of 26.3 per cent represents the party’s worst showing since the end of Adolf Hitler’s rule in Austria, according to Europe Elects.

Mr Kurz, 31, will become Europe’s youngest leader after becoming foreign minister at the age of 27. Although the OVP has been in government for 30 years and Mr Kurz is one of the cabinet’s longest serving ministers, he has run his campaign with a promise of change. 

The stunning result will come as a crushing blow to the EU and essentially a strong vote against liberal politics, pedalled by France and Germany. And as a member of the EU, Austria could now go on to resist efforts by Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron to reform the bloc and expand cooperation on issues such as immigration.

Austria's turn to conservatism

As Express reported, The results are being seen as a worrying “rightward shift” which is likely to cause a fresh headache for the European Union as it struggles with Brexit and the rise of nationalists and separatists across the bloc. But speaking to reporters on Sunday, Kurz said: "I promise I will fight for great change in this country. It's time to establish a new political style.”

The soon-to-be youngest ever chancellor of Austria, Kurz is highly unlikely to form a coalition with his SPO rival after the OVP leader triggered the snap election following months of rowing between the two.

It is thought Kurz’s officials are already engaged in intensive behind-the-scene negotiations with the FPO, as the incoming chancellor warned Austria had witnessed a "massive rightward shift".

He said: "We are open to talks... but there are enormous overlaps in the programmes of the ÖVP and the FPÖ.”

Austria and the immigration crisis

The Austrian government's opposition to the European Union's policy on the immigration crisis will increase over the coming months. On the other hand, Austria will hold the EU Presidency in the second half of 2018. This will be the worst case for the eurozone and the European Union. Without a doubt, we will see a lot of tensions between Austria and the European Union in this regard. The Austrian Chancellor disagrees with Brussels on issues such as immigration and economic reform in Europe. Opposition that could encourage other European countries to oppose the EU.

As Vox reported, at the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015, Austria was often seen as a way station rather than a final destination for refugees seeking new lives in Europe. That image isn’t exactly correct: Some 90,000 refugees settled in Austria that year, a country of just under 9 million people. At first, there were joyful images of Austrians meeting refugees in train stations. But soon that sentiment shifted to worry. 

In November 2016, Kurz sat down with the Financial Times. He applauded his country for taking such a large number of refugees — more than the US or Canada had welcomed, he noted. Then he shifted gears and began to speak about how the welcome mat needed to be rolled up. Uncontrolled migration, he said, “overburdens our system and cannot function.” 

“It is not an Austrian phenomenon,” he continued. “Luckily Europe, step by step, recognized that these mass refugee movements to Europe cannot work.”

That position has become more and more mainstream in Europe. In Germany this year, Angela Merkel’s refugee policy became a turning point of the elections. This past July, Kurz very publicly berated his Italian counterparts for not doing enough to stop migration, calling on them to do more to keep migrants from arriving on Europe’s shores and stop them from continuing northward. 

“If Italy were to continue its transfers to the mainland, not only will Central Europe be overwhelmed, but drownings will continue”, Kurz told the Italians. He insisted as well that the international aid groups attempting to save drowning migrants crossing the Mediterranean “should not be a ticket for Central Europe.” 

That kind of sentiment sounds a lot like the far right. But by midsummer, this had become an increasingly common position in Europe. 

Indeed, by August, European leaders had made a bargain with the Libyans, propping up their coast guard and keeping migrants on African shores; migration dropped precipitously. Kurz, an early and outspoken voice on this issue, now no longer sounded like the far right.

“Austrians are fearful because of immigration and the refugee crisis,” Reinhard Heinisch of the University of Salzburg told the Washington Post on Monday. “Kurz addressed these fears, and played with these fears.” 

Bernhard Weidinger, a researcher of the far right at the Documentation Center of the Austrian Resistance, told me that a nonpartisan poll from the Austrian monitoring group SORA found “migration was considered the No. 1 topic for this election.”