By Merve Berker
Thousands of people marched through Vienna, calling on Austria’s political leaders to reject forming a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), press reports said on Friday.
About 25,000 protesters expressed their concerns about the FPO's anti-immigrant stance and Euroscepticism at their rally on Thursday, according to Euronews.
"It's Thursday again," read many signs, referencing similar protests in 2000 when the FPO entered a coalition government.
The rally aimed to put pressure on parties, particularly the conservative Christian-Democratic Austrian People’s Party (OVP), to avoid aligning with the FPO.
The OVP, which received 26% of the vote, has indicated that it may cooperate with the FPO only if Hebert Kickl is excluded from the future government.
FPO leader Kickl insists on leading any coalition, controversially calling himself the "Volkskanzler," a term with Nazi-era connotations.
The FPO’s potential return to government is significant because it would be Austria's first far-right leadership since World War II.
President Alexander Van der Bellen is set to open talks with party leaders, beginning with Kickl, though there is no constitutional obligation for him to select the FPO to lead.
According to preliminary final results announced by the Interior Ministry on Monday morning, the FPO received 29.2% of the vote. It is followed by the Austrian People's Party (OVP), which is currently led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer and secured 26.5% ballots.
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) is in third place, with 21.1% votes. The liberal party Das Neue Osterreich und Liberales Forum (Neos) has 9% support. The Greens, which previously governed in coalition with the OVP, received 8% this time around.