Sunday's parliamentary election in Austria produced a disturbing result.  The two parties of the far right, the Freedom Party (FPO) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, (BZO) gained 29% of the vote between them.  The two main parties, the Social Democratic Party and the (conservative) People's Party, gained 30% and 26% respectively.

It would seem that another 'grand coalition' of the two main parties must be on the cards, but it was a previous grand coalition that fell apart in July.  Voters may wonder what will make this grand coalition different from the last one.

More importantly, it was perhaps disillusionment with Austria's political mainstream that caused the increase in the far right vote.  The Freedom Party - under its then leader Jörg Haider, now leader of the breakaway BZO - had previously shared in government eight years ago, causing Austria's political isolation for a time.  That three in ten Austrian voters should now turn once more to the far right shows their evident despair.

Austria's political system ran for decades on the "Proporz" principle, a carve-up of public posts between the two major parties. Increasingly this led to a backlash and the relative success of the Freedom Party caused the abandonment of the cosy arrangement.  Now politics in Austria is just a long drawn-out stalemate.  The voters have spoken but only the machinations of politicians will determine what they have said.

It is clear that democracy functions best when there are clear alternative governments, not just alternative parties, and realistic competition between them.  The voters of Austria cannot see the Social Democratic Party and the People's Party as alternative governments, so the alternative for many is to vote for the far right.

Fortunately the far right has no foothold in Scottish politics.  But in times of crisis, when the political system does not seem to deliver, such groups can gather momentum.  There is increasingly a political vacuum in Scotland as the Labour vote collapses and the opposition to the SNP is in disarray.  We need to ensure that it is progressive politics that fills the vacuum, not the politics of hate.