His nomination by the party presidency was unanimous.
But not all FPÖ supporters are happy with Herbert Kickl as designated party leader.
Do the delegates stand united behind him?
Wiener Neustadt (dpa) - The right-wing FPÖ in Austria is setting the course today.
At an extraordinary federal party conference in Wiener Neustadt, the FPÖ parliamentary group leader Herbert Kickl is to be elected as the new party leader.
The 52-year-old is considered the long-term chief thinker of the right-wing populists and is known for his particularly sharp rhetoric.
Most recently, he sided with the opponents of the corona measures.
Kickl would succeed Norbert Hofer.
Hofer had tried to make the party attractive to swing voters, at least by being more conciliatory.
He had recently resigned in view of repeated arguments with Kickl.
Kickl is also controversial in the ranks of the FPÖ.
Occasionally, members resigned from the party after the 52-year-old was nominated.
With his verbal attacks against migrants and against Islam, Kickl addresses the FPÖ's core clientele, but in the opinion of many observers he can hardly win supporters from other parties for the right-wing populists.
Kickl recently certified the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement to have political approaches worthy of support.
The grouping is something of a right-wing non-governmental organization, according to the party leader-designate.
Should Kickl be elected party leader, all chances of the FPÖ to participate in the government seem to vanish at first. A new edition of the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition is also ruled out because of the deep gap between Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Kickl. None of the other parties want to make a deal with the right-wing populists anyway. In surveys, the FPÖ currently comes to around 16 percent.
The FPÖ was in a coalition with the conservative ÖVP under Kurz from 2017 to 2019.
The alliance broke up in the Ibiza affair, in which ex-FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache was prone to corruption.
The FPÖ has been part of the political landscape in Austria for decades, with some high approval levels in elections.
She became internationally known through the appearances of the party leader Jörg Haider, who died in an accident in 2008 and who headed the FPÖ from 1986 to 2000.
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