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Interview: Austrian presidential election increases pressure on governing coalition: analyst

Xinhua, February 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

For the first time since 1945, at least one of the presidential candidates of the ruling coalition parties may fail in April's primary election, increasing pressure on the governing coalition, an Austrian political analyst has said.

"It is a toss-up who will achieve the runoff ballot," well-known political analyst Thomas Hofer told Xinhua on Friday. "Every one of the five candidates could end up in a range between 15 and 20 percent."

The center-left Social Democrats (SPO) and the center-right People's Party (OVP) form the current government. For SPO candidate Rudolf Hundstorfer and OVP nominee Andreas Khol, an early fail is possible. That would have a "historical dimension" and would be "a bitter defeat for the respective party," Hofer said.

Hofer said "the pressure within the affected party on the leader would increase greatly in case of an early defeat." Chancellor Werner Faymann from the SPO or Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner from the OVP could be affected. "However this is difficult to anticipate," Hofer added.

In the current polls, the former leader of the Green Party Alexander van der Bellen is ahead of the other candidates.

"He has radiance to other political camps," Hofer said. Van der Bellen "is eligible for conservatives as well as for social democrats," and he benefits from his high publicity, Hofer said.

"It'll depend on the campaign, whether he can actually move into the run-off ballot. Mistakes do happen," the political analyst pointed out.

The independent candidate Irmgard Griss, former president of the Supreme Court, has good chances too, Hofer believed.

"The lack of support of a party is a unique selling point," he said. "She benefits from the sullenness of the Austrians about politics and the parties."

However, Griss has no political experience. "The competitors could play that card in the election campaign," Hofer said.

Hofer believed that Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), was less likely to succeed. The political analyst believed that Hofer's entering the runoff is indeed "not ruled out, but would be a surprise."

However, the refugee crisis could help the FPO candidate."If again pictures of thousands of refugees at the border go across the media, the refugee problem will be the key issue of the presidential election," Hofer said.

The Austrian president is largely a ceremonial role. Endit