A person passes posters of the right-wing Freedom party, FPOE, and the conservative Austrian People's Party, OEVP, Vienna, Austria, Oct.11, 2017 (AP photo by Ronald Zak).

On Oct. 15, Austrians will go to the polls to elect a new government, with all signs pointing to a rightward shift in its ruling coalition. Just two weeks before the parliamentary elections, the government put into force a new law that prohibits individuals from covering their faces in public—a not-so-subtle signal to right-wing voters of the government’s stance on Muslims and the full-body burqa and other coverings worn by some Muslim women. In an email interview, Stefan Lehne, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and former director general of political affairs at the Austrian Ministry for European and International […]

Czech billionaire politician Andrej Babis, right, takes a photograph with a supporter during a campaign rally, Prague, Czech Republic, Sept. 28, 2017 (AP photo by Petr David Josek).

PRAGUE—Wearied by political scandals and cynical about traditional parties, Czechs are set to elect their own version of Donald Trump as they head to the polls later this month for legislative elections. Billionaire Andrej Babis pledges to run the Czech Republic like his business and wipe out the corruption that has derailed so many governments since the fall of communism. Voters are buying his simplistic solutions despite a bevy of scandals that stalk Babis, who leads his own populist ANO party, which he founded in 2011. Pending criminal charges against Babis could provoke constitutional chaos after the elections on Oct. […]