Friedrich Peter - Early Political Career

Early Political Career

From 1955 to 1966, Peter served as a deputy in the Upper Austrian Landtag, first as a representative of the Verband der Unabhängigen, later of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose chairman he became in 1958. In 1966, he was elected into the Austrian Nationalrat and became the leader of his party's delegation in 1970.

As early as in 1962/1963, the FPÖ began to cautiously approach the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), which antagonized parts of the right-wing extremist-national wing and caused some members to split away from the party. The SPÖ wanted to maintain the option of a coalition with the FPÖ and also supported that party financially. The idea was to weaken the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which turned out not to work. Under Peter's chairmanship, the FPÖ attempted to gain a reputation to become a potential coalition partner and tried to give a liberal impression on the outside. At the party convention of 1964, Peter declared that "nationalists and liberals together have a place in the FPÖ."

This "liberalization" of the party led to some internal resistance, against with Peter reacted by expelling dissenters. However, this process did not thoroughly transform the party, neither in terms of its political program nor in terms of its membership. The political views of the party ranks had not shifted towards liberalism.