VIENNA, Sept 26, (AP): Austria's far-right Freedom Party could win a national election for the first time when Austria votes on Sunday, tapping into voters' anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other concerns following recent gains for the hard right elsewhere in Europe. Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to become Austria's new chancellor.

He has used the term "Volkskanzler,” or chancellor of the people, which was used by the Nazis to describe Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Kickl has rejected the comparison. But to achieve that, he would need a coalition partner to command a majority in the lower house of parliament. And a win isn't certain, with recent polls pointing to a close race.

They have put support for the Freedom Party at 27%, with the conservative Austrian People's Party of Chancellor Karl Nehammer on 25% and the center-left Social Democrats on 21%. Still, Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austria's last election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.

In the 2019 election, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior coalition partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

The far right has tapped into voter frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic. It also been able to build on worries about migration. "You don’t really feel safe in your own country anymore. But then you’re being branded as right-wing just because you think about safety of your own people, the kids and women,” Margot Sterner, 54, said at a Freedom Party campaign event this month.