Populist narration of the Freedom Party of Austria before the presidential election in 2016

The election of the head of state in Austria in 2016 was in many ways a breakthrough and its course was surprising. Norbert Hofer, a right-wing populist candidate of the Freedom Party of Austria, made it to the second round of presidential election. Technical problems related to the organisation of the presidential election postponed the final decision until December 2016. The aim of this article is to present the main elements of the populist narrative propagated by the FPÖ during the election campaign. The party reached for a well-known arsenal of means, trying to convince voters to their candidate. It underlined the protection of national identity, the defence of the interests of Austria in the European Union, declarations of strengthening the position of president and the inclusion of the people in the governing through direct democracy. The populist rhetoric recurred as well to its permanent elements: criticism of the establishment and the conspiracy theory of the Austrian elite aiming to prevent or postpone the victory of a FPÖ candidate.