Austria's Van der Bellen re-elected as President: Projections

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen English
9 Oct 2022 17:44

The final official result is not expected until Monday.

Austria's Van der Bellen

According to projections, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has been re-elected.

The projections showed the 78-year-old incumbent swept 54.6% of the votes with six other candidates all lagging far behind.

Around 6.4 million voters participated in Austria's Presidential elections that took place today Sunday, with final results expected to be revealed Monday following the count of postal ballots.

The country's current president, Alexander Van der Bellen, has hoped to win the elections from the first round and serve his second consecutive term without resorting to a runoff with the second runner.

President Alexander Van der Bellen is a pro-European liberal that was elected back in 2016 after running as an independent nominee, backed by the Green Party, which he previously represented in the National Council and was part of its parliamentary group, as well as serving as its leader until 2012.

Van der Bellen, who is being promoted as "the safe choice in stormy times," is backed by most major parties in the country, a role that President Alexander managed to turn from being mostly ceremonial to having a more proactive role in running the state following the political and economic crisis.

After casting his vote on Sunday, Van der Bellen said, "It would be nice if we had clarity today, nice for Austria, nice for us. If we can then fully concentrate on the diverse tasks ahead, the multitude of crises that we in Austria, in Europe, are facing," adding, "If not, that’s democracy, then we will view with respect what comes out this evening or tomorrow, and go confidently into the runoff."

The 78-year-old head of state, which has been dominating the polls, needed a little more than 50% of votes in order to be re-elected. While being challenged by 6 others for the position, however his closest competitor, as polls suggest, was the far-right freedom party (FPÖ) nominee, Walter Rosenkranz, with 16% voter support.

Walter Rosenkranz is an Austrian lawyer who previously served as the representative of the Freedom Party in the National Council from 2008 to 2019, and the leader of the party's parliamentary bloc between 2017 and 2019.

The remaining candidates who were in the race for the presidential seat are Dominik Wlazny backed by the left-leaning Beer Party, as well as Michael Brunner and Gerald Grosz who are backed by People Freedom Fundamental Rights and Alliance for the Future of Austria relatively, which are parties belonging to the right and far-right

The Freedom Party has been losing support since 2019 due to a corruption scandal that led to dissolving the government, and, later on in 2021, the resignation of then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Following Kurz's resignation, three people took turns in the Chancellor's position within 2 months, which was lastly settled by current Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Commenting on the competition for the seat by the other parties, and mainly by Rosenkranz, President Van der Bellen said that his, "biggest competitor on Sunday will be the sofa.”

The 2016 elections witnessed a runoff where Van Der Bellen's claimed victory against a tougher competitor of the Freedom party, Norbert Hofer, by a more than 7% lead (53.8% for President Alexander and 46.2% for Hofer). However, this year's polls suggested that Van der Bellen has secured more than the 50% vote count to get re-elected in the first round and avoided a runoff.

It's noteworthy that Austra is witnessing an economic crisis that earlier resulted in mass protests in the country, where the Austrian trade union federation ÖGB organized the nationwide protest to put pressure on the conservative-Green coalition, which it accused of "watching idly as our lives become unaffordable."

20,000 Austrians attended the "Prices Down" rally in downtown Vienna, as per ÖGB. Meanwhile, the city police department refused to share their estimates. Unionists accused the big businesses of taking advantage of private consumers who are struggling to pay skyrocketing energy, heating, as well as food bills.

In August, inflation was 9.3%, 0.1 percentage points lower than the revised July rate of 9.4%. However, despite government anti-inflationary policies, energy and food prices have continued to rise, according to Statistics Austria.