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Europeans Are Getting Sick of Immigrants
Today’s Austrian elections show that ‘being different’ is no longer good.
It’s happening all over Europe. It happened already in more than half of the United States. Immigrants are less wanted today than at maybe any time in the past 100 years. Despite a war that tore the world apart, during which humans who differed from the majority were systematically executed, Europeans and many Americans seem rather excited to return to the racist, deadly policies of the past.
Austrian voters handed a first-ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, vote projections showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels.
The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) in a campaign dominated by immigration and worries about the economy.
Led by the 55-year-old Herbert Kickl, the FPO was projected to secure 29.1% of the vote, ahead of the OVP on 26.2%, and the centre-left Social Democrats on 20.4%, a projection by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF showed after polls closed (Far Right Wins Austrian Election).