Herbert Kickl speaks at an event as he kicks off Freedom Party of . on September 7.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Austria’s sharp-tongued far-right leader Herbert Kickl does not exactly cut a dashing figure but he has skillfully tapped into voter anxieties over migration, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neither as charismatic as the former leader Joerg Haider, nor as bullish as his predecessor Heinz-Christian Strache, Mr. Kickl has made his career largely behind the scenes as the longtime ideologue of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe). But under Mr. Kickl, the party has rapidly regained ground lost after a string of corruption scandals and is expected to win the national election scheduled on September 29.

Since Mr. Kickl took charge in 2021, the FPOe has risen in the polls to about 27% — sharply up from 18% three years ago. Buoyed by discontent over soaring inflation, Mr. Kickl has profited from the plummeting popularity of the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Greens.

And on Ukraine he has criticised EU sanctions against Moscow, and said Austria should remain neutral. In June’s European elections, the FPOe topped the poll for the first time nationally, taking more than a quarter of the vote.

A professional politician, Mr. Kickl studied philosophy, history, communication and political science before starting to work for the FPOe in 1995.

His bland, unassuming image contrasts with his virulent rhetoric, which he expertly employs against political opponents, slamming President Alexander Van der Bellen as a “senile mummy”. “He is the rudest politician in the country,” journalist Nina Horaczek, who analysed Mr. Kickl’s speeches in a book published this year, said.

The FPOe was founded by former Nazis, and Mr. Kickl has frequently employed terms reminiscent of the party’s troubled past, including calling himself the future Volkskanzler — the people’s chancellor — as Adolf Hitler was termed in the 1930s. “It is a well targeted provocation with two aims — to get people talking and to send very clear signals” to the party’s most radical fringes, said Ms. Horaczek.

Last year, Mr. Kickl appeared on posters in his home region of Carinthia, dressed in a green parka jacket with military overtones alongside the slogan: “Fortress Austria — closing borders, guaranteeing security.” For the coming national elections, he has changed into a suit, but has kept the slogan.