Austrians vote on Sunday for an election that should reappoint the outgoing environmentalist president, Alexander Van der Bellen, considered a symbol of stability to face inflation, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine.
Supported by a broad spectrum of the political class, he is credited with more than 50% of the votes in the polls and seems well on his way to winning in the first round of voting against six opponents, all men.
“It would be good to see things clearly today, it would be good for Austria. This would allow us to concentrate fully […] on the myriad of crises we face in Europe,” the 78-year-old head of state said after casting his vote in Vienna late morning.
In the alpine country of 9 million inhabitants, 6.4 million voters – including the Austro-American Arnold Schwarzenegger, strong support of the president – are called to the polls.
Offices opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 5 p.m. The first screenings are expected soon after.
“Weakened far right”
“I am in favor of stability,” Monika Gregor, a 73-year-old retiree, told AFP, calling the outgoing president a “very intelligent” man.
But others preferred to give their voice to candidates from civil society.
Alexander Nittmann, a 35-year-old computer developer, chose punk singer Dominik Wlazny, the same age as him and founder of the “beer party”. “I think a bit of fresh air in politics doesn’t hurt,” he explained, deeming his campaign serious behind the humor.
As for the far-right FPÖ party, which almost won against Alexander Van der Bellen in 2016, it would like to play the match again.
But its candidate is little known: Walter Rosenkranz, 60, would collect only 15% of the vote, against the current of recent elections in Sweden and Italy.
Corruption cases have caused Austria’s notorious extreme right to lose ground. Six years ago, she was the first in Europe to come close to victory in a presidential election.
Founded by former Nazis, the FPÖ finally lost with more than 46% of the vote, the epilogue of a ballot with twists and turns that had kept Brussels and Austria’s western partners in suspense.
If the party then entered government by forming a coalition with the conservatives of young Sebastian Kurz, it had to leave power in 2019 after an incredible scandal and has never since regained its past glory.
sons of refugees
Faced with these turmoil and the succession of chancellors, Alexander Van der Bellen, with the function traditionally embodied in ensuring protocol, guaranteed the continuity of the state.
He can thus present himself today as “the only one who can avoid chaos”, according to political scientist Thomas Hofer, interviewed by AFP.
This pro-European also passes for “integrity” according to Julia Partheymüller, of the University of Vienna, which is “highly appreciated” in comparison with the “multiple crises facing many European countries”.
He led a sober campaign, advocating “clarity” and “competence” in order to “cross the turbulence as calmly as possible”.
His atypical profile, however, in no way guaranteed him such a political destiny.
Austere, a little stiff even, agnostic married twice in Catholic land, the former boss of the Greens and dean of the faculty of economics in Vienna has been able to forget his strong anchoring on the left to bring people together.
Tongue-in-cheek, a heavy smoker with an eternal three-day beard, he is now happy to have himself photographed in loden – a traditional alpine jacket – at the foot of the glaciers to convince of his patriotism.
Because an extremely rare environmentalist at the head of a democracy, he is also the son of refugees and has inherited an exotic Batavian surname: his Protestant family emigrated from the Netherlands to Russia in the 18th century.
His father, an aristocrat, and his Estonian mother joined Vienna during the Second World War before moving to Tyrol, fleeing the arrival of the Red Army.