FPÖ will become an increasingly important actor
in Austrian and European policy.
This article was written a few days after the
elections.
The
Austrian presidential elections resulted in a very narrow margin in favor of
the ecologist candidate, Alexander van der Bellen who won 50.3% of the votes,
against nationalist candidate Norbert Hofer -candidate of the nationalist
Eurosceptic FPÖ- who got 49.7%. However the election campaign gave us to
understand that it was much more what was at stake for the Austrian –and
European- political "establishment":
Van der Bellen, member of the Green Party (Die Grünen OÖ) himself, was
supported by the ORF (Austrian Television), by the conservatives (ÖVP), by the
Social Democrats (SPÖ), by the EU and by the international press ... In fact it
was a struggle of all against Hofer. So the result should be more than
disturbing for the political super-elite, for Brussels bureaucrats and for “political
correctness”.
Austria has
always been an example of the proper functioning of democracy, but in this
election there are many voices that speak of manipulation of votes and results.
In fact it has appeared in various media the news that in certain Austrian town
voted 146% of the census [i]
, it is not the only irregularity detected in an election whose outcome turned
on counting the vote by mail. It is curious that no Western government, nor the
EU have referred to these proven irregularities, while they are so scrupulous
with elections in countries where electoral victory does not match its
geostrategic interests: Putin's Russia for example. These attitudes only serve
to undermine the credibility of the Austrian government –as well as the EU- and
to question its fair play in its own country. Are EU governments able of things
to avoid any legitimate political triumph of their adversaries?
This
election will have an immediate effect on both the Austrian and European
policy, where the FPÖ will become an increasingly important actor.
In Austria
the polarization of forces will only benefit the FPÖ. The new president Van der
Bellen has already demonstrated its anti-democratic behavior stating that he
will avoid anyway a chancellor of the FPÖ even if it is the most voted party [ii] ... and it will be certainly as say the
survey. If Van der Bellen refuses to name Heinz- Christian Strache -the FPÖ
candidate- for chancellor of Austria, it will only possible by supporting a
coalition of losers and also skipping the most elementary principles of
democratic action.
On the
other hand, the FPÖ has shown that remains the European nationalist party who takes the highest percentage of votes in Europe, and the one which is
really close to take the government of its nation. As well FPÖ is doing an
important work with the German AfD (Alternative für Deutschland): first supporting it and now building strong
alliances. That probably will allow those two parties to build together a
strong nationalist and Eurosceptic core in Europe, and this new situation will
have political consequences and geopolitical positioning this political sector.
Enric Ravello.
[i] http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/mondo/giallo-sulle-elezioni-austriache-comune-affluenza-146-1263143.html
[ii] http://breizatao.com/2016/05/26/autriche-le-nouveau-president-empechera-la-formation-de-tout-gouvernement-populiste-meme-sil-est-elu/
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