Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green politician who ran as an independent candidate, has won Austria’s presidential run-off with 53.3 per cent of the vote, beating back a challenge from his opponent Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ). The post is largely ceremonial, but not powerless.
The result gave Mr Van der Bellen, a pro-European moderate, a wider lead over Mr Hofer than in May, when the run-off election was first held and Mr Van der Bellen won by just 31,000 votes, or 0.6 per cent. Voter concerns over stagnant wages, job insecurity, immigration, globalisation, security and the influence of Islam on traditional Austrian culture boosted support for Mr Hofer and his FPÖ party, which was founded by former SS officers in the 1950s. The May vote was annulled by the constitutional court after irregularities in the counting process.
Since the end of the Second World War, Austria’s president has been either a candidate of the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPÖ) or the centre-right People’s party (ÖVP), which together have dominated the post-1945 period. The combined vote for candidates from the traditionally dominant mainstream parties fell below 25 per cent in the first round of the presidential contest in April. If Mr Hofer had won, he would have been the first far-right head of state in Western Europe since 1945 and his win could have prompted an early parliamentary election.
After Britain voted to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s election as US president, Austria’s presidential election results were greeted with a sigh of relief in Brussels and most European capitals, giving hope to centrist politicians and indicating the limits of the far-right’s appeal.
Austria is one of the world’s most affluent countries, but the economy is underperforming European rivals. Widespread dissatisfaction with both main parties – the SPÖ led by Chancellor Christian Kern and the conservative ÖVP – could put the FPÖ’s leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, in the chancellorship at helm of a FPÖ-ÖVP coalition after the next general election, which is due in 2018. Opinion polls show that the FPÖ would win the next election, well ahead of the SPÖ. When the FPÖ joined a federal government coalition in 2000 with the conservative ÖVP as a junior partner, Austria was briefly ostracised by other European countries. European allies, however, are unlikely to take such measures next time.
Populism is on the rise in much of western democracies, threatening liberal values. After Italians rejected proposed constitutional reforms in a referendum, forcing prime minister Matteo Renzi to resign, and Austrians denied a far-right populist the presidency, the world’s attention now turns to the Netherlands, where Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam, anti-immigration, anti-EU Party for Freedom (PVV) is leading in opinion polls before an election in March and France where Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front (FN), will almost certainly make it to a second round run-off election for the presidency next spring.
