Sebastian Kurz, the foreign minister and leader of Austria’s conservative People’s party (ÖVP), has won the general election, with 30 per cent of the vote, according to projections based on early results. Mr Kurz is set to become the European Union’s youngest leader, unseating Leo Varadkar of Ireland.
Like French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Kurz comes from the political establishment, but portrays himself as a young reformist, who would shake up the country’s cosy political order. He took control of the ÖVP in May, rebranding the mainstream right party as a dynamic movement focused on change.
Europe’s migration crisis saw more than 130,000 people from war-torn countries in the Middle East seeking asylum in Austria in 2015 and 2016. Mr Kurz, as foreign minister, played a significant role in closing down the so-called Balkan route for refugees flowing into Europe. He campaigned on a pledge to minimise refugees’ access to Austria’s generous welfare system and limit the number of people allowed into the country, adopting a similar tough line to the far-right, anti-Islam, anti-immigration Freedom party (FPÖ) on stopping illegal immigrants.
The FPÖ pushed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) of Chancellor Christian Kern into third place, after securing 27 per cent of the vote against 26 per cent for the SPÖ as the mainstream centre-left party struggled to reach voters concerned about immigration and national identity.
The FPÖ is likely to return to government for the first time since 2005. That will be a boost for Europe’s anti-establishment movements after the defeat of the far-right parties and candidates in the Netherlands and France this year. But last month, the Alternative for Germany won nearly 13 per cent of the vote in the general election, making it the third-largest political bloc in the Bundestag.
A coalition between the ÖVP and FPÖ will almost certainly adopt a more hardline position on many EU issues, including immigration and defence of the EU’s external borders, and stay in the German-led camp favouring fiscal austerity in the single currency area.
Austrian voters are fed up with the grand coalition between the two mainstream parties (the grand coalition has governed for most of the post-second world war era). Mr Kurz, however, could seek another coalition deal with the Social Democrats.
Photo: ©OEVP/FOTOKERSCHI/KERSCHBAUMMAYR
