Roundup: Gov't parties could face debacle at Austrian presidential election

The two presidential candidates of the ruling coalition parties lag far behind at the polls in the lead-up to the presidential election on April 24.

A failure of both candidates before the runoff would be a signal for a turning point in the political system.

Leading the polls is the former party leader of the left-wing Green Party, Alexander van der Bellen, with 26 percent, according to an Austrian survey by pollster Gallup on Thursday. Close behind at 24 percent is right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer.

Another candidate who has the chance to get into the runoff is independent candidate Irmgard Griss, former president of the Supreme Court. The Gallup survey places the former judge at 20 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, center-left Social Democratic Party (SPO) candidate Rudolf Hundstorfer and center-right People's Party (OVP) candidate Andreas Khol are far behind with 16 and 11 percent.

Local media attributed the poor performance of Hundstorfer and Khol to the lack of confidence of Austrians in the established policy. Many see the presidential election as an opportunity to express their displeasure with the government.

That would have an "historical dimension" and would be "a bitter defeat for the respective party," well-known political analyst Thomas Hofer said in an early interview with Xinhua.

Since the Second World War, only candidates of the former major parties SPO and OVP have been elected to the presidency in Austria. Additionally, almost all of the governments were made up of these two parties, usually as a coalition government.

In practice, a failure of the ruling parties in the presidential election would have little effect on the government. In Austria, the president has mainly representative functions and can hardly influence the politics of the day. However, it would be a disaster for the SPO and OVP symbolically. Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPO) and vice-chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner (OVP) would come under enormous pressure within their parties.

Local media believed the presidential election could signal the end of the grand coalition governments in Austria.

Despite the expected government crisis, an early election of the parliament is not likely. SPO and OVP have nothing to gain in this case. The FPO would win the election hands down.

According to a recent OMG survey, the FPO would obtain 31 percent of the vote, the OVP 24 percent, and the SPO would come in third with 23 percent.

The government will probably hang on up to the parliamentary elections in 2018. But whether the two governing parties, who held 90 percent of the votes in the 1980s, obtain a majority in 2018 is questionable. Endit